Spyridon Gianniotis, A Marathon Man At Worlds
Greek Olympian Spyridon Gianniotis is a racer, a competitor, an athlete with a huge heart.And his heart is going to be pounding like a hummingbird moves its wings next week. Along with his rival Thomas Lurz, Gianniotis will have a full slate in Barcelona at the 2013 FINA World Championships.
First the 5 km on Saturday, then the 10 km on Monday, then pulling his teammates along in the 5 km Team Pursuit, and then finish with the 25 km marathon swim on Saturday. 4 races, 4 warm-ups, 4 warm-downs in 7 days. Eat, warm-up, race, warm-down, eat, sleep, recover. Repeat.
That is 45 km (27.9 miles) of hard-nosed intense racing against the best in the world. Assume at least 3 km of warm-up and warm-down before and after each event (although he may not warm-up much before the 25 km race) and that is a total of 67 km of swimming next week.
A true marathon man.
Copyright © 2013 by Open Water Swimming
Southern California native, born 1962, is the creator of the WOWSA Awards, Oceans Seven, Openwaterpedia, Citrus Corps, World Open Water Swimming Association, Daily News of Open Water Swimming, Global Open Water Swimming Conference. He is Chief Executive Officer of KAATSU Global and KAATSU Research Institute. Inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Swimmer, Class of 2001) and Ice Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Contributor - Media, Class of 2019), recipient of the International Swimming Hall of Fame's Poseidon Award (2016), International Swimming Hall of Fame's Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award (2010), USA Swimming's Glen S. Hummer Award (2007, 2010) and Harvard University's John B. Imrie Award (1984). Served on the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee and as Technical Delegate with the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, and 9-time USA Swimming coaching staff. Note: WOWSA only recommends products or services used or recommended by the community. WOWSA does not receive compensation for links or products mentioned on this site or in blog posts. If it does, it will be indicated clearly on that specific post. See WOWSA's privacy policy for more information.
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