Update: A spokesperson for Swimming South Africa has confirmed that all of day two’s races have been postponed and that heats will resume on Wednesday at 9:30 AM.
Day 2 of the 2013 Swimming South Africa National Championships and World Championship Trials has been delayed for the morning session, at least, throwing more tumult into what has already been a crazy year for the beleaguered governing body.
Officials have not released a full plan yet, but this morning’s preliminary sessions have not happened because of the murky green water that occupies the pool in Port Elizabeth, resulting from what officials are now calling a “burst pipe.” Nobody from Swimming South Africa has commented on whether this is a delay of action, a cancellation of action, or if there was any realistic plan to solve the problem of the water.
In the short term, at least, this delays the qualification of swimmers like Cameron van der Burgh in the men’s 100 breaststroke; he is the defending champion and World Record holder in the race.
One competitor, Megan Stephens, described the water as being akin to swimming South Africa’s famous open water Midmar Mile, but that “walls jump out in front of you!” The Midmar Mile is swum in Midmar Dam, a recreational and industrial use body of water that has been ranked as “high” on the country’s hazard index.
The meet is scheduled to run through Saturday, April 20th.
See Also:
Myles Brown couldn’t see en route to missing qualifying standard by .25 seconds.
Swimmers arrive to Green Pool in South Africa.
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correct me if im wrong but the russian swim cup is also today
At least Cameron will be able to dolphin kick and won’t even have to try to be sneaky about it
Really impressed by all the swimmers , maintaining there composure and focus.
They could have drained it replaced the filters and pulled a couple fire engines in there to refill the thing in about 6-12hrs start to finish and it would be better than what it is now, this is crazy. The temp may not have been optimal but its better than getting everyone sick.
This is just a shame, these swimmers deserve better from thier country. You have to train too long and too hard to get to that level for a dang broken pipe and poor judgement of your federation to impact your performance like this.
Really a shame for the South African swimmers.
The pool should have been drained days ago, this is a joke. Time to hit the reset button…