Suit choices of the top 3 competitors in the 10k Open Water Race!

Suit choices of the top 3 competitors in the 10k Open Water Race!

Amanda Weir swims her sprints in a TYR A7 and Fran Crippen just earned himself a bronze in the 10k open water portion at the FINA World Championships wearing one as well.

(It was a pretty messy decision to determine third and so I should not be talking about the race specifics but Steve Munatones can: [Link] )

Andrew Gemmell claimed the silver in a blueseventy NERO which has been proven to be the de facto standard for masters in both distance, middle distance, and sprints.

I am presuming that Thomas Lurz was wearing an Adidas when he claimed the gold but so little is known about Adidas in America...

So what have we learned about this? Despite massive budgets from power-houses like Speedo and Nike, the cream is rising to the top and the Speedo LZR isn't floating very well. Sure it is doing pretty good in the pool but it is now demonstrable that we have speedsuit manufacturers who are making swimsuits you can wear in any event and be fast and not have to worry about suit failures.

That to me is extraordinarily compelling.

What a coincidence it is that FINA politicians are right now being lobbied to return swimmers to both briefs and onesies!

Innovation like this can't and won't be suppressed. If FINA closes the door on speedsuits, I predict a second governing body will arise in the form of a 'Pro-League' and the last thing FINA would want is a second governing body making even more money than they do. Example: Gambling on 'keirin' or cycling racing in Japan generates $15 billion annually.

If a pro league was able to generate only one-tenth of that amount who do you think the IOC is goiong to take more seriously when it comes to sending a "dream team"?

With proper planning, revenue streams through gambling, which I have been looking into, let Alan Thompson and Mark Schubert can have their "wear briefs or go to jail rules" and everybody else can have fun.

I think mixing open water racing and pool racing like horse racing mixes turf and track would make for a dynamic sport to watch.

The Thomas Lurz photo came from this AP article nicely detailing the race: [Link]

The photo f Fran Crippen and Andrew Gemmell come to us from the Miami Herald who covers it in detail as well: [Link]

Steven Munatones talks up his open water picks

Steven Munatones in this About.com article picks his top ten men and woman for the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim in Seville, Spain on May 3rd.

He is favoring Grant Hackett over Vladimir Dyatchin and Thomas Lurz and he also provides his reasons why. He was very generous with his US woman's picks and though I hope he is right, I suspect that Edith van Dijk of the Netherlands will do much better than 9th place; especially if her goggles don't get torn off her face like they did last time. I'm thinking 3rd for her.

Micha Burden should do better than 5th if she doesn't piss anybody off and get another rib broken. (These girls think they are playing hockey or something. It reminds me of a Rodney Dangerfield joke: I went to a boxing match and hockey game broke out!) [Link]

FINA Marathon Swimming World Cup results

FINA Marathon Swimming World Cup was held this weekend in Sevilla, Spain. Germany and Russia apparently own open water swimming. See top ten results at Lane 9 News: [Link]

OFFICIAL RESULTS 10 KM. MEN

1. THOMAS LURZ - GERMANY 1:51:49,10
2. VLADIMIR DYATCHIN - RUSSIA 1:51:50,71
3. MAARTEN VAN DER EIJDEN - NETHERLANDS 1:51:52,12
4. FRAN CRIPPEN - USA 1:51:54,00
5. CHARLES PETERSON - USA 1:52:03,08

OFFICIAL RESULTS 10 KM. WOMEN

1. ANGELA MAURER - GERMANY 2:00:00,89
2. CHLOE SUTTON USA 2:00:05,12
3. POLIANA OKIMOTO - BRAZIL 2:00:06,78
4. KERI-ANNE PAYNE - GREAT BRITAIN 2:00:21,19
5. CASSANDRA PATTEN - GREAT BRITAIN 2:00:21,41

My WCSN.com subscription is going smoothly. I watched all the open water events without any hassle.

UPDATE: WCSN is "klunky" on a Macintosh running OS X version 10.4.9. I am having annoying problems with pixel depth and an occasional flicker.

The men's 10k race was dramatic. The finish was so close it had to be measured in 100s of seconds. The drama in the men's event was that they swam in a very tight pod, say like a foot away from each other. On turns around the buoys, if you slowed down, the pod swam over you. None of the men ever compromised tempo.

The Russians and the Germans; (Vladimir Dyatchin, Larisa Ilchenko and Thomas), have proven they are brave and strong in open water events. From USA Swimming:

• Vladimir Dyatchin edged out Germany’s Thomas Lurz by six-hundredths for the world title. Dyatchin finished with a time of 1:55:32.52, while Lurz crossed in 1:55:32.58. Dyatchin’s Russian teammate, Evgeny Drattsev, won the bronze medal in 1:55:47.31. [Link]

The article has some inside stories and quotes from the competitors as well.