Fun In Fiji For Fast 5K'er

The 2009 World Swimming Championship 5K gold medalist Melissa Gorman will join her fellow Australian national team swimmers Shelley Clark and Kate Brookes-Peterson at the Fiji Ocean Swim on October 9-11.

World Championship Women's 25K Start List

The women's 25K start list (18 individuals total) was announced by FINA for the 2009 World Swimming Championships for the 9:10 am start (Rome time) on Saturday, July 25th in Ostia Beach.

Race number, names and countries are noted below:


102. Kate Brookes-Peterson (AUS)
103. Shelley Clark (AUS)
120. Margarita Domingues (ESP)
121. Esther Nunez Morera (ESP)
124. Celia Barrot (FRA)
126. Cathy Dietrich (FRA)
131. Stefanie Biller (GER)
133. Angela Maurer (GER)
141. Martina Grimaldi (ITA)
142. Federica Vitale (ITA)
143. Zaira Cardenas (MEX)
147. Linsy Heister (NED)
154. Natalya Pankina (RUS)
156. Anna Uvarova (RUS)
157. Nika Kozamernik (SLO)
164. Eva Fabian (USA)
165. Emily Hanson (USA) - shown on right above
171. Lili Anzueto Moguel (MEX)

Swimmers From Down Under Headed to Rome

The Australian national open water swimming team heading to Rome to take on the experienced Europeans, the motivated South Americans and the speedy Americans include Trent Grimsey in the 5K, 10K and 25K, Andrew Beato in the 5K, Reece Mainstone in the 10K and former world 25 champion Brendan Capel in the 25K.

On the women's side, Olympian Melissa Gorman in the 5K and 10K, Danille De Francesco in the 10K, Kate Brooks-Peterson in the 5K and 25K and Shelley Clark in the 25K will represent their country in Rome.

We expect good results from the Australians who have strong reasons for returning to the podium in Rome (see Kate on left above winning one of her 2 bronze medals at the 2007 World Swimming Championships).

We will Twitter the men's and women's 5K and 10K races from Rome. Log onto http://twitter.com/swimopenwater if you wish to follow the races live.

Photo of Kate with gold medalist Larisa Ilchenko and Ekaterina Seliverstova, both of Russia, in Melbourne after the 5K race at the 2007 FINA World Championships.

Swimming Like a Tiger

Sports fans around the world appreciate the physical gifts and mental toughness of Tiger Woods, the world's best golfer. On the final day of a golf tournament, there is no one tougher.

With crowds roaring with delight and heavy with expectations, going mano-a-mano against Tiger is always difficult for his competitors.

Professors Richard Rendleman and Robert Connolly wrote that players paired with Tiger in all rounds between 1998 and 2001 played nearly a half-stroke worse than usual. However, that differential increased to 0.857 strokes higher when paired with Tiger in the final round.

Some people call Tiger's intense focus a special killer instinct. Dr. Ken Ravizza, a noted sports psychologist, described Tiger's killer instinct, "To succeed in the same group with Tiger, you have to prepare for it. You have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable."

If there were a Tiger in the open water world, it would have to be of Russian descent. If Tiger's haven is the 18th hole of the final round of gold tournaments, then Larisa Ilchenko's haven is the final stretch in 5K and 10K marathon swims.



At the 2004 World Open Water Swimming Championships, Larisa outsprinted Russian teammate Ksenia Popova, one of the fastest American 800-meter freestylers, Sara McLarty and a world-class field in an urban river in Dubai.

At the 2005 World Swimming Championships, Larisa swept by American Margy Keefe and multiple world champion Edith van Dijk in the smooth-water rowing basin in Montreal, Canada.

At the 2006 World Open Water Swimming Championships in the Mediterranean Sea off Naples, Italy, Larisa won convincingly over Brazilian Poliana Okimoto and Russian teammate Ksenia in the 10K and over Poliana and Britta Kamrau of Germany in the 5K.






At the 2007 World Swimming Championships, Larisa characteristically out-sprinted teammate Ekaterina Seliverstova and Australian Kate Brookes-Peterson in the 5K battle in the rough seas off Melbourne, Australia.

The results were the same, even though the finishing times were closer in the jellyfish-strewn 10K over Great Britain's Cassandra Patten and Kate Brookes-Peterson.

At the 2008 World Open Water Swimming Championships, Larisa won from behind after trailing behind Cassandra Patten and Yurema Requena of Spain for most of the race. The outcome and strategy was the same in the 5K with a close victory over Russian teammate Ekaterina Seliverstova and American Chloe Sutton in the warm river in Sevilla, Spain.

At the Beijing Olympic 10K Marathon Swim, Larisa achieved her most exciting come-from-behind victory over a pair of British medalists, Keri-Anne Payne and Cassandra Patten.

Similar to Tiger's decade-long dominance, Larisa has won numerous championship races throughout the world during her streak from 2004 to 2008.

Like Tiger walking down the fairway heading to 18th hole, Larisa comes charging down the final straightaway with the eye of the Tiger. They both have an inner strength build upon years of training and a supreme confidence that they have done everything to prepare themselves mentally and physically.

Top photo of Larisa by Kevork Djansezian of the Associated Press. Bottom photo of Larisa (in middle) by Giorgia Scala of Deep Blue Media.

Doing The Ilchenko in Mt Maunganui

Olympic 10K Marathon Swim gold medalist Larisa Ilchenko is well-known for winning races in dramatic fashion at the very end. We call her classic open water move, The Ilchenko.

Australian David Browne (see photo on left) pulled The Ilchenko on Kane Radford at the 2.8K Sand to Surf, Mt Maunganui Swim, the fourth of five races on the Sovereign New Zealand Ocean Swim Series.


With nearly perfect conditions and out in front of the other 697 swimmers, David and Kane battled it out mano-a-mano throughout the entire race before David did The Ilchenko less than 200 meters from the beach finish to defeat Kane. "David just swam a brilliant race, he was never far from my hip or my toes and just had a little bit more at the end to out run me up the beach. It was a great race though, tight all the way and a case of waiting, waiting, waiting to see who would move first. Coming down the stretch I went a little left, David a little right and he just nudged me to the beach," said the gracious Kane.

David explained his strategy, "I knew I had to wear him down, he is such a strong swimmer and swam so well in Aussie at our nationals a month back. It was toe to toe, stroke for stroke, we both started fast to drop some of the pool swimmers and then I just found something to bring it home. Over the final few hundred meters, we both hammered it, this was a great race to win."

The women's race was also tactical with Charlotte Webby beating established star Kate Brookes-Peterson and finishing eighth overall. "I sat with [Kate] early, but when she put her foot down, she opened up a gap of about 100 meters and there was little I could do. But around the back i made some great ground through good navigation and sensed my chance. I went straight and that proved the difference, I'm delighted."

Three-peat for Radford in the Harbour

Scott Rice, one of the nominees for the 2008 World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year (see below), is one of the few people who can halt all marine traffic in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city.

But, it was 18-year-old Kane Radford who was the talk of the town after his surprisingly powerful win over Trent Grimsey who won the Waikiki Roughwater Swim, the RCP Tiburon Mile and the Eyeline 1000 Noosa Ocean Swim earlier this year.

In only its fifth year, Rice has built up the Sovereign Harbour Crossing, to be the biggest ocean swim in New Zealand, attracting 1,440 entrants to the 2.8K race from Bayswater to downtown Auckland. The Sovereign Harbour Crossing is the first of five races in the popular Sovereign New Zealand Ocean Swim Series. In a country of only 4.1 million people, this is equivalent of having 103,000 swimmers in a single open water swim in the U.S.

Radford was not given an opportunity to qualify for the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim, but he apparently has plans to rectify that situation for London in 2012. Radford will soon start training with Olympian open water swimmer Chloe Sutton and the famed distance training group at the Mission Viejo Nadadores under Bill Rose, the head open water swimming coach for the US. "This is an amazing chance for me. To train with Bill Rose and his squad who focus on long-distance training is incredible."

Radford swam across the Waitemata Harbour (Auckland) in 33:00, easily out-swimming Australian Grimsey (34:12) and young Aucklander Brett Newall (34:14). Double world championship bronze medalist Kate Brookes-Peterson, a native of New Zealand who is now an Australian citizen, came back home to win in 34:25 far ahead of Penelope Marshall in 36:51 and Charlotte Webby in 37:21.

Rice says the five-year milestone is a special one for the event. "In the five years of the Sovereign Harbour Crossing, we have built up real tradition and history in what is now an iconic event on the Auckland sporting and recreation calendar. Anyone can drive across the harbour bridge, take a ferry from wharf to wharf and some of us are lucky enough to have sailed in pleasure craft on the harbour. But it is a rare opportunity to be able to swim across the harbour with the support of Surf Lifesaving New Zealand, the Coastguard and the port authorities. That is part of what makes this event so special, the rare nature of it and the sheer challenge of it. For many people this is the biggest and most demanding event they will take on in their lives. Consequently the sense of achievement upon making the finish line is huge. The smiles on the faces of all who make it bring as much joy to us as organizers as it does to them as individuals."

One of the finishers was 74-year-old Dick Smith who completed his first open water swim in 1951 and finished this race in 1:00:36.

Upper photo of Radford at finish line. Middle photo of Kane after race. Lower photo of Kate Brookes-Peterson at the 2007 World Swimming Championships.

Reminder: the World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year and the World Open Water Swimming Woman of the Year voting continues. Click here for more details of the male nominees and here for the female nominees.

Australian Sweep at the Pacific Swims

Photo on left shows English Channel swimmer Anne Cleveland, 10K winner James Cahill, 3K winner Kate Brookes-Peterson and Olympian Melissa Gorman, women's 10K winner, at the end of Pacific Swims' Fiji Ocean Swim Series.




Nerang Swimming Club coach John Papuni and Brookes-Peterson (shown in the photo on left) were joined by Cleveland in an open water swimming clinic before the Series.





Pacific Swims annually hosts the Fiji Ocean Swim Series that includes 1.5K, 3K and 10K ocean races off the Plantation and Lomani Island Resorts. The 10K race also doubled as the sanctioned Fiji National Open Water Championships.

The 10K race saw swimmers from New Zealand, Australia, the United States and Fiji experience all kinds of conditions from start to finish. At the start on Plantation Island, the field face winds at their side and uneven chop. As the swimmers made their way around the island, the swells became significantly larger until they swam on the lee side of the island in flat shallow water. As they came back around to the finish, they headed straight into the wind under cloudless skies.

Upper photos provided by Anne Cleveland.

Lower photo shows the beach start area of the Fiji Ocean Swims on Plantation Island.

Fabulously Fantastic Fiji Fun

2007 World Swimming Championship double bronze medalist (5K and 10K) Kate Brookes-Peterson, Nerang Swimming Club coach John Papuni and accomplished English Channel swimmer Anne Cleveland will host the Pacific Swims Breakfast with the Champions and Swim Clinic on October 17th at the Fiji Ocean Swim Series.

Pacific Swims annually hosts the Fiji Ocean Swim Series. This weekend, the Series includes 1.5K, 3K and 10K ocean races off Plantation and Lomani Island Resorts. The 10K race also doubles as the sanctioned Fiji National Open Water Championships.

In addition to the Fiji Ocean Swim Series, Pacific Swims also hosts the Vanuatu Ocean Swim that includes 1.5K and 3.2K races and the Espiritu Santo Swim, a challenging 2.6K swim on Vanuatu's Big Island as well as Swim Safaris, guided island hopping and coastal swims in Fiji.

Upper photo of Kates Brookes-Peterson provided by Paul McCoy of Pacific Swims. Lower photo shows the beach start area of the Fiji Ocean Swims on Plantation Island.