Often for young swimmers, experienced coaches tell the athletes to “put your head down and finish“.
Andreas Waschburger (@andreaswaschburger) of Germany did just that at the 2016 Traversée internationale du lac Mégantic in Quebec, Canada. At the FINA 10 km Marathon Swimming World Cup in lac-Mégantic on July 28th, 29-year-old Andreas Waschburger put his head down on the final stroke and blindly touched the finish pad, finishing in 2 hours 2 minutes 26 seconds over 28-year-old American Chip Peterson (now a physician*) who was timed in 2 hours 2 minutes 26.5 seconds.
The race could not be much closer.
Pepijn Smits of the Netherlands finished third in 2 hours 2 minutes 30 seconds while Italy’s Arianna Bridi [shown below] won the women’s race in 2 hours 10 minutes 57 seconds over Germany’s Angela Maurer in 2 hours 11 minutes 6 seconds and Russia’s Olga Kozydub in 2 hours 11 minutes 53 seconds.
A total of 38 swimmers including 18 men and 20 women who represented nine countries, took part in the fifth leg of the 2016 professional marathon swimming circuit.
* As a student-athlete at the University of North Carolina, Dr. Peterson was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and had a total colectomy. The medical care that he received ultimately inspired him to attend medical school and become an internist.
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