Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. The open water swimming community understands the importance of rules in mass open water swimming competitions. No one wants unfair competition or unsportsmanlike conduct to be prevalent - let alone exist - in the sport. While inadvertent physicality exists, especially around the turn buoys and at the
Less than 24 hours after Chad Ho (shown with white swim cap) and Troy Prinsloo (shown with multi-colored cap) went stroke-for-stroke in an epic aQuellé Midmar Mile, the two South African rivals returned to the Midmar Dam and renewed their increasingly frequent mano-a-mano battles again. This time, Ho and Prinsloo faced off at the 10 km South African
Chad Ho (left) and Troy Prinsloo (right) went stroke-for-stroke, culminating in the closest race ever at the aQuellé Midmar Mile. "Hats off to Troy for pushing me the whole way," said Ho. "Congrats to Chad. It was a great swim,” said Prinsloo. “I knew it would be tough coming into the race and obviously it’s a bit disappointing [not too have won] but
Like the epic boxing matches between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, Chad Ho and Troy Prinsloo went blow-for-blow and culminated the aQuellé Midmar Mile with the most exciting race ever. As the men swam stroke for stroke, it was the epitome of a mano-a-mano battle. "The way Chad had been swimming I knew it was going to be tough," said the two-time Olympian
Troy Prinsloo is an established cross-over star and a two-time Olympian from South Africa. Kyna Pereira is a young up-and-coming cross-over star who is making her own marks in both the pool and open water. Prinsloo won this past weekend's Sunday Tribune Capital K 2.5 km race in South Africa in a close victory over Kyna Pereira. But KwaZulu Natal Aquatics'
The pace of the top-level swimmers is getting faster and faster at each major championship - and the number of swimmers vying for medals continues to increase. To understand how close the top competitors are at the 2013 FINA World Championships, we can look at Chad Ho of South Africa (shown with teammate Troy Prinsloo). The 2008 Olympian placed fourth in
The pecking order among the highest echelon of men's competitive open water swimming seems like it is about to change. While there are a handful of superstars hanging around and not ready to retire - Spyridon Gianniotis, Thomas Lurz, Oussama Mellouli, and Richard Weinberger - there are a number of men ready and able to take their traditional place on the
Ashley Twichell was in the middle of a pack of 12 during the first 2.5K loop at the aQuelle Midmar Mile 10 km race on Monday in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. She clocked a 30 minutes 38 seconds on the first loop swimming in the middle of the pack. After a comfortably lengthy feeding on the first loop, she picked up the pace to 88 strokes per minute
At the start of the race, Troy Prinsloo scouted Chad Ho and checked out his position Ho positioned himself on the far left of the huge pack, in his customary position. "I decided my line at the very last moment," said the 3-time defending champion. But Ho can read the weather and conditions as well as anyone. While Miles Brown and others lined
Australian Trent Grimsey was disqualified at last weekend's State Harbour Crossing in Round 2 of the New Zealand Ocean Swim Series. Grimsey won the 2.9km open water swim across the Waitemata Harbour by more than a minute. It was a clear victory, but event director Scott Rice rules that Grimsey obstructed fellow competitor Troy Prinsloo at about a third of
