Victoria’s Richard Weinberger Joins Big Leagues With Performance at Open Water Swim

VICTORIA – What does it take to be among the best open water swimmers in the world? Nineteen-year-old Richard Weinberger appears to have the guts, stamina and talent to be with the best if his performance this past Sunday at a World Cup in Brazil is any indication.

Afflicted with a serious case of food poisoning which caused diarrhoea and vomiting, the morning of the race, Weinberger soldiered on to the starting dock in Santos and swam the 10 kilometre event in two hours and 15 minutes and 05.12 seconds for 21st place.

What's most impressive is that he was less than a minute behind winner Evgeny Drattsev of Russia, a two-time world championship medallist and fifth at the 2008 Olympics.

“I was disappointed and pretty happy at the same time,” said Weinberger, racing at his second career World Cup and fifth open water race overall. “It was a really a race time decision whether I would compete or not. But I finished much closer to the winner than I would have thought. It was a strong field and the Russians and Italians, the top-two countries in the world, sent their best.”

Being so close to the leaders definitely left Weinberger wondering what could have been if he was in full health.

“I had a great week of training leading in, probably my best training ever heading into a race,” Weinberger said. “I was prepared to come top-10 no matter what. I had put in the preparation to achieve that and I was little disappointed it didn’t happen.”

Weinberger’s coach Ron Jacks of Victoria was elated with the performance.

“I was going to pull him but he was determined to race no matter what,” said Jacks. “He stayed with the pack for two laps and actually moved up in the third. There was some uncertainty for him during the race because he wasn’t sure how he felt. He definitely had never gone through any kind of experience like that.”

Weinberger and Jacks returned home from Brazil on Tuesday afternoon. Despite still in recovery mode, Weinberger was back in the pool at 7 a.m. Wednesday morning training for his next big event: a 14 kilometre open water race this April in Mexico.

His main goal in 2010 is to reach podium at the Pan Pacific Championships this August in California.

“He learned this weekend that he could swim with the best,” said Jacks.