Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.

When elite athletes come barreling into the finish line and smack the touch plate, they often have no clear idea of their final placing.

Unlike pool swimmers or water polo players who look up to a scoreboard or like synchronized swimmers or divers who look at judges for their scores, open water swimmers are often left to wonder what just happened. The cameras on the finish pontoon are then reviewed by the judges and the final positions are announced – sometimes, many minutes or occasionally, an hour or more after the fact.

Posting these closes race online would be very cool and very interesting for athletes, coaches and fans to view.

One finish camera can be seen in the second photo above on the far right side of the blue finish banner.

Copyright © 2014 by World Open Water Swimming Association