Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Larisa Ilchenko of Russia wins again, this time in the 10k open water

Ilchenko is one tough swimmer. She overcame jelly fish stings including one to the face while swimming in 66 degree water. She completed the course in a time of two hours, three minutes, and change. How about this quote from Eurosport:
  • "In the 5km nothing worried me, the conditions were perfect," Ilchenko said after her win. "Today, I could hear the girls behind me screaming in the first lap. I expected it to be the same as the 5km, instead we're all walking around with spotty red faces."
I think open water venues should have alternate swim locations when an act of God strikes such as jellyfish invasions, small craft advisories, et cetera.

Eurosport covreage: [Link]
Spokesman Review which details the race better: [Link]

2 comments:

Scott said...

Surely they could have had 'sweeps' ready to clear the course of the majority of jellyfish if needed. A simple rig of finely meshed nets slowly towed individually behind several boats would have worked. I'd be interested to learn about what efforts Australia put in this direction.

Tony Austin said...

I agree with you.

Australia once had a yaught race in horrific conditions. Boats sank and people actually died. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison was racing and rumored to have drowned sending Oracle's stock way down until proof of life was secured.

Open water is a new event, maybe it still has some bugs, or maybe the Australians have a more Darwinian point of view of ocean related competition