30.Aug.09   |  posted by: steve munatones  |   filed under: Races   |  (0) comments

Thomas Lurz continued his winning streak in the Copenhagen 10K pro swim with a closely fought battle against Petar Stoychev of Bulgaria and Sergai Bolshakov of Russia; the respective times were 1:57:40 vs. 1:57.43 vs. 1:57.44. Poliana Okimoto beat Brazilian teammate Ana Marcela Cunha in a time of 2:05.17 to 2:05.29 with Angela Maurer of Germany third in 2:05.30. The swimmers plan to continue their battles next week in New York City.

Salford Online posted a number of great interviews with some of the world's best open water swimmers:

Thomas Lurz said, "I won the race, and I am very happy with the result. 10K race is always very hard, and the water really cold. So I am very glad to win the race, and was perfect for me. My special tactic was until 8K to be the pack and try to save power and draft behind the people. And after the last lap, I wanted to leave the group and then I did this, and it worked very good for me."

"[Swimming] around [Copenhagen] like this is the perfect idea. I think it the future of open water swimming, because all spectators can look the whole race, and walk with it and it is a nice idea. And I think in the future there should be more races like this."

"I was really focused on the race, so during the race I couldn't see the nice houses and buildings, but the day before in training. I watched the city and of course it really nice and perhaps I will come and visit for holiday."

English Channel record holder Petar Stoychev said, "I just wanted to be in the back of the group and try to save some energy for the end. I got a little bit hard time with the jellyfishes. I was feeling comfortable all the time in race, and in the end I was sure that I would be in the top 3. So I did it, and I am really happy with the result."

"First of all I got a chance to swim in the downtown of the city, and in very clean water, which was a really surprise for me. Secondly you have people all around, and it is very easy for the spectators to observe the race and to see swimmers during the 10K race."

World champion Angela Maurer said, "I was just a little bit afraid of the cold water. I had no special tactic, just to swim and see how I felt for the last 400 meters, but today I was little bit tired in the end, so I lost my second position and got the third position. But it was okay for me."