Swimmer's Daily

  • Championnats de France de natation

    SwimNews.com describes the upcoming French nationals and World championship trials as “a firepower in men’s freestyle events that is hard to find just about anywhere else in the world”, with Alain Bernard, Amaury Leveaux, Fred Bousquet, Fabien Gilot, William Meynard and Yannick Agnel in the short to middle distances, and Sebastien Rouault, Anthony Pannier, Xavier Leprete and Mads Glæsner in the longer distances.

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  • Interesting detail about Sweden’s Therese Alshammar, 33-year-old World Cup winner 2010 and Dubai 2010 World champion in the 50 butterfly. Source SwimNews.com:

    “I lived in London for a number of years, so it’s like my second home. I really, really like the city so it would be nice to have a little bit of ‘homeground’ advantage,” said the swimmer who had “Diva” tattoed on her lower back to remind her to work hard. She explained: “When I was a bit younger I was a bit of a diva, because I didn’t train so hard and didn’t put in the effort. I made the tattoo to remind me that my previous ways weren’t so efficient and successful, and also as a tribute to women.”

    Alshammar at the Stockholm 2010 World Cup

  • 17-year-old David Nolan set two individual USA high school and age group (17-18) records during the PIAA Swimming Championships this weekend, improving upon his own 200 yards medley record from 1:43.43 last year to 1:41.39 now, and swimming 45.49 in the 100 yard backstroke, where the age group record was 46.11 and the high school record 46.75. The 200 medley records is the 8th best time at all, with only NCAA swimmers like Ryan Lochte (1:40.08), Bradley Alley (1:40.49) and Michael Phelps (1:40.58) bettering him. Source: simma.nu/no.

  • Norway’s Olympic silver medalist Alexander Dale Oen underwent a nose operation recently, in order to hopefully be freed of the 4 to 6 weeks that he usually struggles with the common cold, or at least be able to train better through these weeks. “I can of course train when I have the cold, but it is not optimal for restitution or hard workouts”, says the norwegian breaststroker. See text and video on nrk.no. Via www.simma.nu/no.

  • Recommended by none other than Jessica Hardy, this game called “Sheep Dash” on bbc.co.uk/science is a must do for every serious swimmer out there.  As a native inhabitant of the ‘sheep islands’ (Faroe Islands), I guess my proud 0.1994 average reaction time is next to impossible to beat.

  • The Danish Open 2011 start list is ready, promising quite a few high quality races, especially in the long distance events. In the women’s 1500 freestyle, we have Norway’s Elin Slaatmo trying to take on European champion and World silver medalist Lotte Friis, and in the men’s 1500 freestyle, Faroe Islands’ European silver medalist Pál Joensen will have yet another bout with Denmark’s World short course silver medalist Mads Glæsner.

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  • University of Houston head coach Mark Taylor passed away late Friday evening of an apparent heart attack in Austin, Texas. His wife, Lorrain, and his two sons, Troy and Zane, survive Taylor, 50. Taylor had just completed his ninth season as head coach for the Houston swimming team. Before that, he coached teams in Denmark, Iceland, Lithuania and Great Britain, including Louise Ørnstedt who placed fourth in the 100 backstroke at the World Short Course Championships in Moscow in April 2002. Read SwimmingWorld Magazine.

  • Kitajima on the podium in Beijing
    Japanese breaststroker Kosuke Kitajima has a very touching list of sympathy messages here on his website, that shows how close-knit the international swimming community really is. There is a message from Norwegian Alexander Dale Oen, who won silver behind Kitajima at the Beijing 2008 Olympics. From American Jessica Hardy who knows Kitajima personally, Oussama Mellouli from Tunesia, Markus Rogan from Austria who remembers Chernobyl, Dominik Meichtry from Switzerland who has been training with Kitajima, and Roland Schoeman out of South Africa.

  • Michigan Wolverines testing their kick speed here at the Donald B. Catham Natatorium. Wu Peng 28.0, Mark Patton 28.8. Nice.