Men’s 10K Swim (Olympics) and some racewalk results

Here is where you can see the video of the men’s 10K Olympic Marathon swim.

The amount of talent in this race was downright scary. You had two sub 15 minute 1500 meter swimmers, a 15:08 1500 meter swimmer, the 2007 10K open water champion and the English Channel swim record holder.

The race:
They start out with a line of 5 swimmers, then a pack (3 abreast); Davies (14:45, 6′th in the 1500 final this Olympics) and Spyridon (14:53) leading Lurz (15:08).

In the race is also Petar Stoychev of Bulgaria, the current English Channel record holder and the first person to cross the English Channel under 7 hours

20 minutes into it only 1 person behind the pack.

27:35 first lap; about a 16:33 pace per 1500 meters. That is about 17:45 mpm, or 10 minutes per 1000 yards. They have pretty much kept the same configuration.

At 35 minutes, there is some distance opening, Davies in 2′nd and Lurz behind. One swimmer, Giannniotis of Greece, is swimming outside of the straight line and a line is following off to the side?

At 40 minutes, Davies takes the lead and Lurz moves up.

You see Vladimir drafting right on the feet of Mark Warkentin of the USA at 42:30; about 6′th.

Petar Stoychev has won 8 straight professional Grand Prix circuits and is a legend around the world, and is 10′th.

At 52:40: more of a tight pack than the neat line. 2 minutes later, back to the line.

Half way: 55:40. 16:42 per 1500 meters; the pace has slowed slightly.

1:05: the next two are fighting over 2′nd and for the perfect drafting position.

1:12 and all but 1 man is in the pack. Everyone still has a shot.

1:24:10. Last lap; sort of a pack with three guys almost abreast; same three.

After three laps (7.5 km), the pace is about 16:50 per 1500 meters; Davies, Lurz and Giannniotis all but side by side, a drafter behind.

It is 1:28, Davies is now 2′nd, Lurz is leading and Vladimir third. It is still tight at the front with at least 5-6 having a shot.

Lurz, Davies, Spyridon, Vladimir, Ky and the rest of the pack in order at 90 minutes.

Davies resumes the lead.

1:39: the neat line is breaking up a bit; Davies still leads but there is two turn bouys to go, then 1000
meters to the finish.

1:42. Same top 4, with Giannniotis leading. Davies got it back; just one heck of an all out sprint at this point.

I haven’t a clue as to who is going to win, though Davies is about 2-3 bodylengths ahead.

500 meters left; Davies is on his way. 6 guys are fighting for silver and bronze, so it seems. Maarten van der WEIJDEN is one of them.

Mark Warkentin is in 6′th with a bona-fide shot at a medal.

Forget gold, so it seems; Davies has all but put it away. Wait, Maarten van der WEIJDEN is challenging. Lurz is in third.

This is going to be a sprint; Davies hurt himself by swinging wide, I think.

Maarten van der WEIJDEN and Davies neck and neck. Maarten van der WEIJDEN pulls away and wins in 1:51:51, Davies 1.5 seconds back, Lurz 3′rd. The three finish wide apart.

What a finish! Maarten van der WEIJDEN was in the hospital with Luekemia a few years ago; now a gold medalist.

They averaged 16:46 per 1500 meters, or put another way: they averaged 1:01 per 100 yards, or 30.5 seconds per lap of a 25 yard pool (15.25 per length). Think about that when you are swimming laps.

Final results:

1 17 van der WEIJDEN Maarten NetherlandsNetherlands Mar 31 1981 1:51:51.6
2 10 DAVIES David Great BritainGreat Britain Mar 03 1985 1:51:53.1 1.5
3 6 LURZ Thomas GermanyGermany Nov 28 1979 1:51:53.6 2.0
4 3 CLERI Valerio ItalyItaly Jun 19 1981 1:52:07.5 15.9
5 14 DRATTSEV Evgeny Russian Fed.Russian Fed. Jan 24 1983 1:52:08.9 17.3
6 21 STOYCHEV Petar BulgariaBulgaria Oct 24 1976 1:52:09.1 17.5
7 8 RYCKEMAN Brian BelgiumBelgium Jul 13 1984 1:52:10.7 19.1
8 18 WARKENTIN Mark United StatesUnited States Nov 14 1979 1:52:13.0 21.4
9 5 HO Chad South AfricaSouth Africa Jun 21 1990 1:52:13.1 21.5
10 9 MALDONADO SAVERA Erwin Leon VenezuelaVenezuela Jul 25 1983 1:52:13.6 22.0

Racewalking: women’s 20K detailed results are here (complete with red-card information).

Medals:

KANISKINA Olga 1:26:31
PLATZER Kjersti Tysse 1:27:07
RIGAUDO Elisa 1:27:12

Video of the women’s 20K walk.

Men’s complete information (with red card information) is here.