In an upcoming article on the USA Swimming National Open Water Swimming Championships in Long Beach, California to be published by Active.com, USA Swimming National Open Water Swimming Championship pre-race favorite Fran Crippen has been compared to a basketball player, known as one of the best American athletes of all time:

“…like Michael Jordan in basketball, open water swimming has a closer: Fran Crippen of Philadelphia. The 6-time national champion has a Philly toughness that is so critical both physically and psychologically.

“…Coming down the stretch, Crippen wants the ball in his hands. If he is close to the lead coming down the stretch, he will be a force to deal with…”

And we fully expect him to be in the lead or very close to the lead in both the 5K and 10K national championships this weekend.

Fran just launched a new look and his new website where he describes the 2010 season, “I started this season by taking a trip to South America where I competed in the first two 10K World Cup races. I used these races as a way to start my season and was very happy to get the win in Argentina. For the last couple months Ive been preparing myself for a great summer season by training with my long time coach, Dick Shoulberg, at Germantown Academy in Philadelphia.”

You can check out Fran‘s competition on the new USA Swimming website. Fierce competitors like Andrew Gemmell, Alex Meyer, Deni Cullom and Sean Ryan.

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