Jellyfish give swimmers sinking feeling in Open Water race
Jiang Tingting and Jiang Wenwen of China perform in the synchronized swimming duet technical final at the World Aquatics Championships in Melbourne yesterday. Reuters |
And everyone was covered in ugly, red welts, the work of jellyfish lurking off St. Kilda Beach.
Oh well, just another day of open water swimming.
Russia's Larisa Ilchenko claimed her second gold medal of the world championships yesterday, winning a sprint to the finish with British up-and-comer Cassandra Patten in the 10-kilometer race.
Then again, no one really looked like a winner when it was over. They staggered onto dry land, just glad to have survived cool waters, rough tactics and all those nasty creatures lurking beneath the surface of Port Phillip Bay.
"They were big," said Ilchenko, who defended her 10k world championship after winning a fourth consecutive 5k title Sunday. "I could hear girls screaming on the first lap when they got stung."
The pain was worth it if a medal was waiting at the finish line. But Maurer missed out on the bronze by just 1.2 seconds after a race lasted more than two hours.
"My whole body is just burning," the German said after seeking solace from her coach. "There were so many jellyfish out there."
Sutton, a 15-year-old Californian, got a rough introduction to her first world championships.
She had her goggles knocked off at the first feeding station, forcing her to hang on to a buoy until a worker on a jet ski brought out another pair. Sutton lost valuable time, spent most of the race swimming by herself and finished in 28th place. She was crying when she finally made it to the beach, covered in jellyfish stings.
"I tried to catch back up, but I just couldn't do it," she said.
Ilchenko and Patten were swimming stroke-for-stroke as they rounded the last buoy, but the Russian nudged ahead in the final 100 meters. She finished with a time of 2 hours, 3 minutes, 57.9 seconds.
Patten was about a body length behind, crossing in 2:03:58.9. Australia's Kate Brookes-Peterson took the bronze in 2:03:59.5.
"I didn't have any strategy," Ilchenko said through a translator. "I was so tired. I was just thinking about finishing the race."
Every swimmer felt the wrath of the jellyfish, which showed up during training but were really out in force for the race.
"It sounds weird, but it actually broke up the swimming a little bit," Patten said, managing a grin as she looked at the marks all over her body. "You're going, 'Ohhh, I've been stung. Ohhh, I've been stung again."'
No worries, as they say in these parts.
"At least they're weren't any sharks," Patten said. "I would be more scared of sharks."
The 10k took on added significance because it will be part of the swimming program in Beijing, where open water makes its Olympic debut next year.
"It has become more important, especially in the coaches' eyes," Patten said. "They see it's an Olympic event, so they're pushing their swimmers into open water more than they did before."
Brookes-Peterson picked up her second bronze of the meet - she also finished third in the 5k - despite being up most of the previous night with food poisoning or some sort of stomach bug.
"I just put it all behind me," she said. "This sets me up great for Beijing."
Elsewhere yesterday, two Chinese divers led the men's 1-meter springboard preliminaries. Luo Yutong upstaged his world No. 1-ranked teammate He Chong by a big margin - 466.50 points to 423.30 - to give Luo a good chance of upsetting He in today's semifinals and final.
Siarhei Kuchmasau of Belarus placed third behind the Chinese, followed by Chris Colwill of the U.S.
It was another good day for the Russians.
In addition to Ilchenko's second gold, the country remained perfect in synchronized swimming with its third straight title. The Anastasias - Davydova and Ermakova - won the technical duet with a program of exceptional height, rapid leg movements and complex turns.
The three-time world champs won with a score of 98.333. The Spanish team of Gemma Mengual Civil and Paola Tirados Sanchez claimed the silver (97.500) and Japan's Saho Harada and Emiko Suzuki took the bronze (97.167).
Agencies
(China Daily 03/21/2007 page24)
