Ten Top Impressions At The World Championships
Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.
After Day One and Day Two at the 2011 FINA World Championships…
The Daily News of Open Water Swimming had time to reflect on the outcome of the races…
Here are 10 impressions that come immediately to mind:
- The top Greek athletes are clearly ready to win some Olympic 10K Marathon Swim medals at the 2012 London Olympics. Spyros Gianniotis and Marianna Lymperta are clearly using their years of training, patience and experience to come through at the end of races.
- Age and experience are two attributes that are clearly useful in racing at the elite levels of marathon swimming. Spyros (31 years old), Marianna (31), Angela Maurer (35), Thomas Lurz (32) and Ky Hurst (30) are proving that swimming in one’s thirties can be an advantage, not a disadvantage against teenagers and those in their twenties.
- The Russian men (3rd place Sergey Bolshakov and 9th place Vladimir Dyatchin) are taking the mantle from their traditionally more powerful Russian women’s team.
- The Germans remain a force on the international open water swimming scene with Angela Maurer (8th place), Thomas Lurz (2nd) and Andreas Waschburger (10th) qualifying for the 2012 London Olympics. Germany had the most number of individual qualifiers.
- The Spaniards (10th place Erika Vallaecija Garcia and 6th place Francisco Hervas Jodar) fared very well.
- The Aussies are knocking at the door of the Olympic podium (4th place Melissa Gorman and 5th place Ky Hurst), especially since the Olympic course will favor their style of swimming and experience.
- The nations of the 20 Olympic qualifiers reflect areas of the globe where open water swimming is growing and popular. The Olympians hail from Great Britain, Argentina, Brazil, USA, Czech Republic, Greece, Germany, Russia, Australia, Spain, Belgium, France, Italy and Switzerland.
- Countries who were shut out of automatic Olympic berths (e.g., South Africa, Venezuela, Croatia, Netherlands, Mexico, China, New Zealand, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan) will intensify their efforts and training in order to qualify for the last-chance opportunity in June 2012 in Setubal Bay, Portugal.
- Despite the large fields, the men respected each other’s space in the race with a relatively clean and gentlemanly race.
- Most Importantly… Expect The Unexpected.
Multiple-time world champions like Valerio Cleri, who has been on top of the sport for many years, can be unexpectedly surprised in any competition.
Copyright © 2011 by World Open Water Swimming Association
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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