SwimSwam welcomes reader submissions about all topics aquatic, and if it’s well-written and well-thought, we might just post it under our “Shouts from the Stands” series. We don’t necessarily endorse the content of the Shouts from the Stands posts, and the opinions remain those of their authors. If you have thoughts to share, please send them to [email protected].
This “Shouts from the Stands” submission comes from Hagai Ashlagi
The old adage that “conditions are the same for everyone” proved to be markedly insufficient in maintaining swimmer’s health and safety on October 23rd, 2010 in the waters of the United Arab Emirates. American open water ace Fran Crippen, world championship open water 10km bronze medalist from the previous year, jumped into the waters of the Persian Gulf, a mere week after winning the previous FINA 10K series race in Cancun, Mexico. Crippen never got out of the water that day. He died in the latter stages of the race after more than 8 kms in. His body was recovered thereafter.
Several other swimmers suffered severe over heating symptoms after the race, including two Americans and a Brazilian who where hospitalized. The water temperature that day was reported to exceed 30°c (86 F).
FINA (now rebranded – World Aquatics) imposed a rule that the maximal water temperature for an open water race will be 31°c (87.8 F). That, unfortunately is still far too high.
In last week’s open water world championships, Marc-Antoine Olivier, silver medalist from the Rio Olympics in the 10km race, former world champion in the 5km race, and multiple medalist from numerous World and European Championship races, had to be dragged out of the water by a lifeguard. Matan Roditi, 4th in the Tokyo 2021 Olympics in the 10km race, and frequent top 5 European Championship finisher was forced to retire after 9 kms. 19 of the 81 swimmers that started, retired mid race.
After the 5km event, Gregorio Paltrinieri, normally a fan of warmer rather than colder water said: “It’s so hot. These conditions are one of the toughest I’ve ever raced in”. During the event, repeat winner, Florian Wellbrock and required medical attention, and added: “The conditions here are tough, everybody knows it’s hot outside, and the water temperature is crazy, close to 31 degrees (87.8°F).” He labeled the event as “the hottest race ever in my career.”.
Australia’s Moesha Johnson, gold winner of both the 10K and 5K, said: “They were saying this is the hottest World Aquatics Championships ever. That wasn’t easy at all. It wasn’t just hot.”
Singapore waters this week reached temperatures of 30.6 °c and 30.8°c and perhaps even higher. Some races were run in the midday heat with outside air conditions logging well over 30°c and extremely high humidity. The cumulative impact of racing the most important race of the year in extremely hot water, and breathing hot, sticky, humid air, is simply dangerous. Perhaps more so in the 10km race, that requires close to 2 hours of hard racing at extremely high sustained pulse rates.
In water, as opposed to on land, the body’s primary cooling mechanism – sweat – is overridden. Sweat cools the body not unlike to a radiator cooling a car – when air comes in contact with water (the sweat), the effect is of cooling the surface the water touches. When swimming, much of the body has little or no contact with the outside air (even less so in full body open water suits), and sweat, despite pouring rapidly out of the body, does not come into contact with the air, and the cooling effect is effectively blocked.
Swimming at high intensity in warm water stems the body’s natural cooling mechanism, and feels like swimming is soup. The longer it continues at high intensity and pulse rates in hot temperatures, the more (ineffective) sweat is expelled from the body, and the more the body both overheats, as well as dehydrates. This can become life threatening at worst, and misses the swimming competitive value at best. It becomes a quest for survival, in which all of the swimmer’s honed mental capacities for overriding physical difficulty, may well become his/her body’s worst adversary.
While in triathlon, water temperatures are regularly measured along with outside air temperatures to achieve a combined index (cool outside air helps cool head and arms while they are above the water surface), World Aquatic’s decision is to race in waters of up to 31°c (87.8 F) without any known consideration for the outside air temperature. That, in my humble opinion, is too hot for safety, especially in what for many swimmers may be a career defining World Championship or Olympic 10K race.
US Masters Swimming for example, has implemented a rule whereby a swim of 5kms or greater shall not begin if the water temperature exceeds 29.45°c (85F). A swim of less than 5 kilometers shall not begin if the water temperature exceeds 31°c (87.8F).
Finally, World Aquatics 31°c rule seems to serve more of an inclusionary purpose, for warm water countries wishing to host open water events, than a sufficient safety rule for the protection of swimmers’ health and life. At least for World Championship and Olympic 10km races, the temperature bar must be lowered for the sake of the swimmers, and for the sake of making the competition more about swimming than about survival.
The 3 km open water knockout sprint – Hats off to the developers
If we’re keeping it real, swimming pool racing rarely graces us with rival-tactical swimming. Nine out of ten times, a swimmer will pre-race prepare by devising – either by themselves of with a coach – his or her singular individual strategy. Swimmers are advised more often than not to “swim your own race” and ignore their rivals across the pool. The number of times we have heard swimmer’s post-race on deck interviews where they victoriously declared – “I swam my own race”, is innumerable.
The open water 3km knockout “sprint” – the newest event in swimming – is the bold new contradiction to the relative absence of rival-tactics of the pool events. For those of you who have yet to enjoy the open water knockout “sprint”, this is how it works –
Three separate bunch swimming open water races in quick succession, all within one hour.
It starts off with separate of bunch racing for 1500 meters open water. No lane lines, no walls. Just a start pontoon, turning bouys and a finish chute. For example, in last Saturday’s world championship open water races for men, there were two heats with 32-33 swimmers assigned to each heat. The second heat started 3 minutes after the first, allowing audiences to enjoy both. To qualify for the semifinals, a swimmer needs to finish in the top 10.
About 30 minutes after the start of the 1500 meter heats, the top ten swimmers from each heat race in a 1000 meter semi-final. From the semi-final, only the top 10 advance to the 500 meter final, raced about 20-25 minutes after the start of the semi. The time gaps provide for an approximate 10-15 minute break for the world’s open water elite.
While the open water 3km knockout sprint is probably as close as one can get to an interval set from hell, it calls for that one aspect that seems to be absent from our sport – rival conscious tactics. And these, my friends, have instantly made it one of the most exciting events to watch in swimming.
In tactical knockout bunch swimming, upsets are not only possible but perhaps, even probable. The opportunities for rival-tactical awareness, for saving of energy in earlier rounds, and for lightning quick in-race tactical decision making and risk taking, are everything that swimming never knew it lacked and so badly needed.
Pack swimming, and even more so knockout pack swimming, may be the high-octane hybrid between physical ability and a sharp tactical mind – resembling the abilities required in pack marathon road running, and peloton cycle racing. A treat.
I’m sold. Count me in as a fan, and give us more.
About Hagai Ashlagi
About Hagai AshlagiA former age group, and current masters and open water swimmer;
Legal counsel of a professional European Basketball League and partner in “The Aquatic League” – A Mediterranean open water swimming league.
would you hold a downhill ski competition on a slope with no snow but rain? There is still a mountain, water is there too, just in a different form, right, gravity will get them down.
Holding a swimming competition in a substance warmer than 29 degree is criminal, dangerous, reckless, etc.
The most disgusting aspect is that this is all done to put more money into the brokers and officials pockets. There was no need to hold the competition in the filthy Seine or in the boiling waters of Singapore. There are 100s of 1000s of lakes on the planet suitable for open water competition.
1) Those 10k races never should have happened under those conditions. There were people there who knew better and should have stopped them.
2) The 3k knockout is the future of the sport. It will be the ‘32 Olympic OW event.
The combination of heat and pollution is scarcely fair for athlete welfare. Starting the men’s 10km in the middle of the day(??) also seemed questionable, hottest time of day!!!
As someone who has lived most of my life in South East Asian countries including Singapore and and an avid scuba diver, I don’t believe the sea around Singapore is under 31 Celsius in July
I don’t understand the significance of July. Singapore is a 100 mile north of the Equator. Temperatures are the same every freaking day. Wouldn’t you know it if you lived there?
The difference is rainfall and humidity which is more tolerable in the summer.
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