Andy Caine, Elite Project Manager for Nova International, the company that puts on the British Gas Great Swim Series in Great Britain, announced the absolutely stacked field for the Great London Swim on July 3rd.
Hot off of his initial win in the British Gas Great East Swim, legendary Australian Ironman Ky Hurst will have his hands full in London.
Olympic 10K medalist Thomas Lurz of Germany is gearing up for the upcoming summer season by cutting his teeth in London where another 5,000 swimmers will take part in the one-mile race at the Royal Victoria Dock in the heart of London.
But arguably the most dangerous man in the open water – a swimmer with not a lot of racing experience relative to Thomas or Ky, but with a tremendous aerobic engine and a desire to be on top of the Olympic medal stand in 2012 – David Davies will also focused on doing everything he can to realize his dream.
If Ky, Thomas or David look to their right or look to their left, we assume that Jan Wolgarten of Germany will be right there in the lead pack, along with 25K world champion Brendan Capell of Australia and English Channel world record holder Petar Stoychev of Bulgaria who will both be found cleverly drafting right on the heels of the leaders, waiting for any opening towards the end. Daniel Fogg, another top British swimmer who has been poking around the top echelon of the sport over the last 18 months, is also expected to be swimming shoulder-to-shoulder with the group. The British are also sending two other pool Olympians to London to see what they can do: Dave Carry and James Goddard, fourth place in Athens (200 backstroke) and 6th place in Beijing (200 individual medley). Olympian Tom Vangeneugden of Belgium and Loic Branda of France, a 5-time French open water champion, will also be in the pack helping pushing the pace and making it feel uncomfortable from the start.
On the women’s side, the British top guns of Keri-Anne Payne, Cassie Patten and Katy Whitfield is as good as it gets for one country. Like the famed American basketball Dream Team, the British on paper are the dominant team. But in elite open water races, the athletes know that they should expect the unexpected, especially with Czech spoiler and Olympian Jana Pechanova in the field.
With the race capped at 5,000 in the heart of one of the world’s greatest cities, the Great London Swim will certainly live up to its name.
Copyright © 2010 by Steven Munatones