LEN's Position Statement on Technical Swimsuits

The following statement was made by LEN as a result of its Bureau Meeting held in Greece on May 15-16 regarding the continuing development and use of new technical swimsuit models:

• LEN follows FINA Rules and Regulations (LEN General Event Rule E 1.2) and will therefore prohibit the use of new generation swimsuits that are not on FINA’s regularly updated list of approved models at LEN Events.

• The current list of ratified European Records will stand as they are, but from this moment on, all European Record applications must specify what single swimsuit model the swimmer was wearing at the time of the potential European Record performance.

• At the European Junior Swimming Championships to be held in Prague from July 8th to 12th of 2009, we emphasize that all swimmers will be controlled at a dedicated call room before competing, and if they wear a new generation suit that is not on FINA’s list of approved models, they will not be allowed to swim.

• LEN has consulted its member federations regarding limitations in the use of this new technology by junior and younger age-group swimmers in order to be informed on the current regulatory situation in each country, and to contribute to establishing a collaborative front and framework to protect our swimmers in the formative stages of their careers.

This means that the open water swimmers soon to compete in the 10K LEN Open Water Swimming Cup in Eilat, Israel will definitely not be able to wear any technical swimsuit that is not approved by FINA.

Photo shows Olympic 10K Marathon Swim bronze medalist Cassandra Patten of Great Britain. Note: this photos does not imply that Cassandra is wearing a non-approved swimsuit; it was taken at the Great North Swim in Lake Windermere in September 2008.

European Swimmers of the Meet Honors

Edith van Dijk and Thomas Lurz won Swimmer of the Meet honors at the recently concluded 2008 European Open Water Swimming Championships in Croatia.

It was a fitting tribute to the 35-year-old van Dijk after an illustrious career dating back to 1993. van Dijk and Lurz were given an OMEGA watch. OMEGA is one of LEN's sponsors and suppliers.

van Dijk narrowly missed a medal in all three individual events (5K, 10K and 25K) finishing fourth in all three.

Lurz immeadiately left for Lake Windermere in England to participate in the Great North Swim) after winning to the 10K and 2 bronze medals in the 5K time trial and 5K team event in Croatia.

In the team standings, Italy won with 182 points followed by Russia (176), Germany (154), Spain (132), Netherlands (94) and France (69).

Photos of Edith van Dijk (with daughter) and Italy's victorious open water swimming team taken by Giorgio Scala of Deep Blue Media.

European Open Water Swimming Championships

111 top swimmers from 22 countries (Austria, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Macedonia, Montenegro, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and Ukraine) will compete in this week's 11th European Open Water Championships in Dubrovnik, Croatia from September 9-14.

"It seems as if September is a good time for a European Championship," said LEN Secretary Sven-Egil Folvik at the opening press conference in Dubrovnik’s City Hall on Monday.

The 5K race will be held for the first time as a time trial. As in cycling, the swimmers will start in one minute intervals. "We had to do something to save the 5K event, because both the 5K and the 10K have always been tactical races which were decided in a sprint finish. There can’t be any tactical moves in 5K time trial. You simply have to swim at full speed from start to finish," explained Swiss Flavio Bomio, the Chairman of the LEN Technical Open Water Swimming Committee.

The 5K team event will also make its debut in Dubrovnik. Each of the 18 national teams will consist of three athletes, either two men and one woman or two women and one man. The teams will also start in 1-minute intervals. "The 3rd individual time is valid for the ranking. So the team has to work and to swim together," said Bomio.

The European Open Water Championships include 10K and 25K races with many Olympic 10K swimmers also participating, including gold medalist Larisa Ilchenko and bronze medalists Thomas Lurz of Germany and Cassandra Patten of England, and multiple-time world champion Edith van Dijk.

Thomas Lurz has won 6 world titles and will try to retain his 2006 title in the 10K. Tough competitors will come from Russia's Evgeny Drattsev (5th in the Olympic 10K) and Yuri Koudinov, Italy’s Valerio Cleri (4th in Beijing) and Simone Ercoli, as well as Greece’s Spyridon Giannitios and Bulgaria's Petar Stoychev.

The schedule is as follows:
September 9th: women's 5K (10 am start time) and the men's 10K (4 pm start time).
September 10th: women's 10K and the men's 5K (both start at 10 am).
September 11th: team 5K.
September 12th: open forum for managers, coaches, swimmers, officials and Technical Open Water Swimming Committee members.
September 13th: men's 25K.
September 14th: women's 25K.

European Open Water Swimming News

The European Swimming League, Ligue Européenne de Natation (LEN), announced its 5-event 2008 Open Water Cup series:
June 15 in Piombino 10K (Italy)
June 28 in Marmaris 5K (Turkey)
July 13 in Sète 10K (France)
August 14 in Navia 5K (Spain)
August 31 in Porec 5K final (Croatia)
September 1 in Porec 10K final (Croatia)

The series leads into the 2008 European Open Water Championships that are held
September 9-14 in Dubrovnik, Croatia where the championships will feature 5, 10 and 25K race distances.

LEN will also host the European Junior Open Water Championships, July 12 and 13 in Sète, France.

Photo shows German open water swimming stars, Britta Kamrau-Corestein, Thomas Lurz and Angela Maurer. Lurz and Maurer will be representing Germany in the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim in Beijing.

Copyright © 2008 by World Open Water Swimming Association