Swimmer's Daily

  • A 2.5-meter tiger shark has been spotted lurking close to the shore of Mullaloo beach in Perth, forcing the popular swim spot to close for the second time in just one week.

  • Investigators believe Michael Jent lost control and crashed into a building around 5:15 a.m. on Friday morning. Carmel High School canceled swim practice that day.

  • The search for a missing woman near Cairns has now become a recovery mission.

    The alarm was raised on Friday afternoon when the 54-year-old failed to resurface after swimming at Mossman Gorge.

    An extensive search in dangerous conditions has been underway for the past three days.

    Police say they now fear the worst and are just hoping they’ll be able to find some closure for her family.

  • A family’s life has been forever changed after a seemingly routine swim lesson.

  • A traveler has shared the horrifying moment a monster three-meter-long snake was spotted in her hotel swimming pool.

    The British musician and TikToker, who documents her travels under the screen name Elisabeth Elektra, was holidaying in Thailand when she discovered the beast.

    In the one-minute video, which has been viewed more than 300,000 times, the huge snake can be seen slithering in the waters of the hotel’s neon-lit swimming pool, as its evening dip is interrupted by hotel staff.

    See New York Post

  • Sydneysiders will now be able to enjoy a dip in the water around Barangaroo while taking in a view of the Harbour Bridge.

    It’s hoped the new swimming spot at Marrinawi Cove in Barangaroo will be a drawcard for locals, tourists and office workers alike.

    Independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich has been pushing for the site to open for the past three years.

    He and Planning Minister Rob Stokes took a swim at the cove on Monday after announcing it would open later that day.

    “The water is really beautiful down here…This is really sort of the first city beach in Sydney.”

  • The U.S. District Court in San Francisco has decided in favor of World Aquatics, in cases that had originally been opened in 2018. Two antitrust lawsuits had been filed: one directly by the International Swimming League (ISL) and another by swimmers Tom Shields (USA), Michael Andrew (USA), and Katinka Hosszu (HUN), with ISL’s support.

    “World Aquatics is grateful to Judge Corley for her thoughtful and just decision. We are pleased that it brings an end to a period of uncertainty. And we are thankful for the clarity that the Court’s decision provides,” said World Aquatics President Captain Husain Al-Musallam. “This is an important decision and also a good decision, not just for World Aquatics, but for the Olympic Movement and beyond.” 

    The lawsuits had alleged unreasonable restraint of trade on the part of FINA, as World Aquatics was then known. The Court found that there had been no such action, saying: “The Court acknowledges the record is replete with evidence of FINA’s concern about competition from ISL. But, so what? The antitrust laws do not require one competitor to help another compete with it; instead, they prohibit only unreasonable restraints of trade.”

    In granting World Aquatics’ motion for summary judgment, the Court agreed that ISL could always have put on its own swimming competitions independently and that World Aquatics together with its member federations do not have monopoly power to control competition: “It is undisputed that top-tier swimmers are not bound by contract to swim only in FINA-sanctioned competitions. Indeed, the undisputed evidence is that ISL can and does sponsor top-tier swimming competitions without any affiliation with member federations.” 

    The Court also found that World Aquatics had made no attempt to stop such competitions by sanctioning swimmers: “There is no rule (and never was) that allows FINA to penalize a swimmer who participates in a competition that is not affiliated with a member federation, and no evidence that FINA ever did, or even threatened to do so.”

    Commenting on the decision, World Aquatics Executive Director Brent Nowicki said: “This was, and always has been, an avoidable controversy. We look forward to putting it behind us, as we look forward to delivering an exciting calendar of opportunities for all aquatics athletes, to whom World Aquatics remains deeply committed.”

    Press release from World Aquatics

    close up photo of wooden gavel
    Photo by Sora Shimazaki on Pexels.com

  • Swimming South Africa kicked off the 2023 swimming season with a successful meet in Mpumalanga this weekend. The Invitational Grand Prix saw local swimmers put in their first laps of the pool for the year ahead of a busy season which also includes the swimming world championships in Fukuoka, Japan, between the 14th and 30th of July.

  • The pandemic could be taking a new toll this time on water safety. As the number of drownings continues to rise, experts are blaming the mass cancellation of swim classes during COVID. Already this summer the drowning toll has reached 30 with fears it’s going to keep rising.