More on Weinberger's London Win

Richard Weinberger came first in the Olympic test event in Hyde Park in London today, which is the same course that will be used for open water swimming during the 2012 Olympics.  He was competing in a field of 20, all of whom qualified from the World Championships where Richard came 17^th just three weeks ago; 8 of the top 10 swimmers from Worlds were there. 

 The race was very fast-paced, with Chinese swimmer Zhang leading the way for the 1^st 6km.  Richard was never out of the top 6 competitors the whole way, and going into the last 4km he started to apply pressure, pulling away with 2km to go; from there, no one in the field could catch him.  

 With less than 1km to go, Richard was 15 seconds ahead of the pack, and able to increase this lead by an additional 11 seconds, resulting in a final time of 1:50.49.  This was a breakthrough performance for Richard because as the youngest competitor in the field, out-sprinting the pack in the last kilometre has been a skill that he’s had to work to develop.    

Compared to Shanghai, the water temperature was significantly colder and the bowl effect of the venue insured a flatter surface.  Combined with the availability of a full-body suit, which the majority of the field in had accessible to them in Shanghai, but were not available to the Canadian swimmers at the time, this performance demonstrates that in London 2012, Weinberger should be able to challenge the best open water swimmers in the world.

Richard has said he’s very motivated towards Portugal, where FINA will determine the final 15 spots for the Olympic Games.  “It was a great race, with great competitors, and it was me and Ron’s strategy to never be out of the top 10, which worked perfectly.  I was very excited to be able to beat the gold and silver medalists from Worlds.”

Photo Credit: Daily Mail Online.