Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Marathon Swim like the Marathon Run?

In Beijing, Constantina Diṭă-Tomescu of Romania won the Marathon Run in 2:26:44, finishing comfortably head of the rest of the field. Constantina made a strong surge before half to create separation between herself and the lead pack. As the race went on, Constantina continued her pace and dominated the field, becoming the oldest marathon run winner in Olympic history, male or female.

Does the 35-year-old Edith van Dijk or the 33-year-old Angela Maurer have the the same potential to pull a "Constantina" or a "Dara Torres" in the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim today?

Photo of Edith van Dijk.

Copyright © 2008 by World Open Water Swimming Association

3 comments:

Harriet said...

This race was "draft, sit and kick" wasn't it, at least for Larisa? For just a second there, I thought that the British swimmers were going to actually go 1-2, but 2-3 is still more than outstanding.

But this event isn't exactly like running with all of the people finishing bunched together.

I wonder if the Brits should have paused at a feed station and made the Russian lead a bit?

Steven Munatones said...

The pace that the British duo set was truly punishing. Their strategy was good given the situation and ther abilities: they wanted to push the pace in order to take out the finishing kick of Larisa, and they almost did it. Compared to the other races, Larisa just barely nicked them at the end.

Harriet said...

Of course you are right; those Brits sure as heck drained the kick out of everyone else! :-)