Austria has recently allowed top swimmers back to training in pools in the midst of the near-worldwide shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Per an April 23 release on Austria‘s swimming federation’s website, ‘almost the entire national team squad of the Austrian Swimming Federation has been back in training since Monday.’ That would mean this week is the fourth week that most of Austria‘s best have been back in the water. We know already that Felix Auboeck, one of the country’s top swimmers, has been training eight times a week in a 50-meter pool since April 30.
Small groups of swimmers returned to training in three different pools after the Ministry of Sport and Health approved this return strategy. The pools are in Südstadt, Linz, and Salzburg.
“The Austrian Swimming Association has carried out an Austria-wide demand survey for all swimming clubs, state swimming associations and management athletes on their own initiative,” states the release. “This should serve the Federal Ministry as a basis and decision-making basis for assessing the situation and possible approval of training and competitions.”
The release also notes that many pools are taking this time to undergo renovations while many activities are not allowed during the pandemic. Some pools have already announced that they won’t open again until this coming fall at the earliest, and the release says that the few open pools will not be sufficient to cover the country’s sporting needs for everyone from the club to the professional level.
Denmark recently allowed their top tier of swimmers back to training, and top athletes have returned to training in other several countries, such as Germany, Italy, Sweden, Spain, and the Netherlands.
