Luca Ferretti Protects His Turf In The Surf

Luca Ferretti and Simone Ruffini of Italy finished 1-2 at the 5K LEN European Open Water Swimming Cup in Isola del Giglio in Italy this weekend. Brian Ryckeman of Belgium, Diego Nogueira of Spain and Simone Ercoli of Italy finished third, fourth and fifth respectively.

On the women's side, Spain's Yurema Requena, a Olympic marathon swimmer (shown on left), beat Alice Franco of Italy and Jana Pechanova of the Czech Republic for the top spot.

The top 3 times for the men and women were as follows:

1. Luca Ferretti, 47:23.0
2. Simone Ruffini, 47:31.7
3. Brian Ryckeman, 47:32.1

1. Yurema Requena, 51:02.6
2. Alice Franco, 51:06.0
3. Jana Pechanova, 51:07.3

The LEN Open Water Swimming Cup continues in Porec, Croatia on July 5th, in Hoorn, The Netherlands on August 2nd, in Navia, Spain on August 8th and in Marmaris-Mugla in Turkey on September 5-6.

Open Water Swimming On The Cutting Edge

Decades before pool swimming outlawed the wearing of more than one swimsuit in competition, the sport of open water swimming prohibited the use of more than one swimsuit. Now it appears that open water swimming is at the leading edge of today's global debate about the use of technical swimsuits.

Tomorrow's 10K LEN Open Water Swimming Cup in Eilat, Israel is a very important race for a number of reasons. Not only are national governing bodies like British Swimming and Israel Swimming selecting their national teams based on this race, but it is also the last major 10K race before the 2009 World Swimming Championships in Rome for most of the top athletes.

But we heard information that LEN (Ligue Européenne de Natation) may strictly follow the new FINA decisions on what technical swimsuits are permitted in this race. This information was informed to the swimmers on Friday afternoon - the day before the race. The swimmers were prepared to swim in their preferred swimsuits this weekend - some of which were not recently approved by FINA. This apparently took many of the swimmers and coaches by surprise. The list of approved swimsuits is here.

In a twist that makes some athletes and coaches happy - and others upset, one of the technical swimsuits that is not approved is blueseventy, a sponsor for the FINA 10KM Marathon Swimming World Cup.

For the athletes who may be in Israel with only a non-approved swimsuit, we are hopeful a reasonable and practical solution is found for them. Stay tuned for the (ongoing) resolution...a few hours for now.

Copyright © 2009 by World Open Water Swimming Association

Time Trial Format

Flavio Bomio, the Chairman of the LEN Technical Open Water Swimming Committee, summed up the new 5K time trial format at the European Open Water Championships best, "You simply have to swim at full speed from start to finish."

"We had to do something to save the 5K event, because both the 5km and the 10km have always been tactical races which were decided in a sprint finish. There can’t be any tactical moves in 5km time trial," explained Bomio.

Like cycling, the swimmers start in 1-minute intervals from the starting pontoon (see photo above) in the 5K solo race.

In the team trial event, 18 three-person teams also start in 1-minute intervals. The time of the last of the 3 swimmers at the finish determines the team's official time. Each team must have at least one woman and will start together. "Most of the time there will be two men who have the task to push the woman to the fastest possible time," predicts 10K champion Thomas Lurz of Germany. "The third individual time is valid for the ranking. So the team has to work and to swim together," reiterated Bomio.

The initial response from the swimmers seems quite positive. "This is a fantastic start to these European Championships for Italy. I like this new time trial format very much, because you are swimming alone and have to do your own race and to decide the correct route by yourself," said 5K bronze medalist Alice Franco of Italy.

Upper photo shows start of women's 5K time trial, taken by Giorgio Scala of Deepbluemedia.

Lower photo shows Flavio Bomio of the LEN Technical Open Water Swimming Committee, taken by Giorgio Scala of Deepbluemedia.

Summer Swims across America and Europe

While annual swims like the La Jolla Rough Water Swim in California, the 2.4-mile Waikiki Roughwater Swim in Honolulu, the 3K Golden Gate Bridge Swim in San Francisco, the Hudson River Swim for Life and the Hudson River 5K Race in New York, and the Atlantic City Pageant Ocean Swim offer great open water swimming opportunities for swimmers across America, the European summer open water season is also coming to a climax.

LEN (Ligue Européenne de Natation) represents 50 national European Swimming Federations and organizes open water swimming races throughout Europe.

Season-ending races include the 3K, 5K and 10K Open Belgium Championships to be held on August 31st in Willebroek, Belgium.

The Porec International Swim is the 5K and 10K LEN European Open Water Swimming Cup Finals also held on August 31st in Croatia.

The 5K Anadolu International Race will be held in Adana, Turkey on September 6-7.

Photo shows German open water swimming stars, Britta Kamrau, Thomas Lurz and Angela Maurer. Lurz won the bronze in the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim while Maurer finished a close fourth in the women's Olympic 10K Marathon Swim.

International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame 2008 Class

The International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame also welcomed Vicko Soljan of Croatia as an administrator to its Class of 2008:

For almost 60 years, Soljan has promoted swimming, water polo and long distance swimming. At age 17 in 1951, Vicko founded the Faros Water Polo Club and Faros Swimming Club, leading the club to multiple Croatian championships. In 1976, he founded the Faros Long Distance Swim Club, leading it to multiple marathon swimming championships in Yugoslavia and Croatia. He was also the founder and president of the Croation Long Distance Swimming Federation (1980-present) and founder of the first LEN Open Water Swimming Championships and coached Croatia to 6 European Championships and 4 World Championships.

In 1976, he founded the popular 16K Faros Marathon Swim in Stari Grad Bay, the oldest town in Croatia. For 31 years, 925 swimmers from 36 different countries competed in the Faros Marathon. Very importantly from a historical and humanistic point of view, the swim was the only international event to continue through the 1991-1992 war, becoming the first international sports competition in the newly independent Croatia.

Soljan has organized 11 long distance swimming exhibitions and has written about the subject for various newspapers for the past 58 years. He is the author of the book Stari Grad – European Centre of Long Distance Swimming. He has received over 23 important awards for service from FINA, LEN (Ligue Européenne de Natation), the International Olympic Committee and the government of Croatia.