Swimming at the Aquatics LEN European Championships 2022

[Vektor 3,326]

Jesus, one of the female Hungarian swimmers just said that one of the boats crossed the course and went right into a group of swimmers... She says that she thinks there weren't any injuries, it just looked scary. 

 

And some swimmers are still out there, swimming, like no one told them that it's over. 

[Vektor 3,326]

Another female Hungarian swimmer says that she and 4 other swimmers almost went under a boat...

 

LEN should investigate what went down today because some people clearly made some terrible calls. 

[Matteo92 98]

There are questionable jury calls. Then there are outright bad calls. Then there are whole events that are entirely messed up by jury calls. And then there is today's 25 k.

[Vektor 3,326]

It seems pretty obvious that the open water races are over for these EChs (and it's maybe for the best). The finish gate seemed destroyed during the 25k and so did the entire course, I doubt that they will be able to fix everything for tomorrow, regardless of the weather. 

[phelps 7,706]

4 hours ago, Vektor said:

Um, wtf did just happen? Nobody has any clue, apparently not even the swimmers  What an absolute joke from the Italian organizers, not worthy for the European Championships. 

tbh, that's all the LEN's jury fault...

 

the organizers don't have anything to do with any decision to swim when the sea doesn't allow to do it nor with the whole mess the judges did during the race...

 

actually, they made a miracle to allow the 5k to be contested under regular conditions after the bad weather destroyed all the infrastructure that was originally supposed to be used for the championship...

 

even the crazy idea to hold the 25k in the afternoon was all LEN's (our TV was available to produce the event even going further into next week, but LEN said that all must be done by tomorrow)...

 

I expect more troubles tomorrow with many athletes forced to double up the 10kms and the relay (if the waves aren't so high as today)...

[phelps 7,706]

1 hour ago, Vektor said:

It seems pretty obvious that the open water races are over for these EChs (and it's maybe for the best). The finish gate seemed destroyed during the 25k and so did the entire course, I doubt that they will be able to fix everything for tomorrow, regardless of the weather. 

no, that's easy to setup again...the finish gate is removable and it's usually prepared just before the race start, so, if tomorrow the sea is OK, the 10k will be held regularly (in the morning there shouldn't be too much troubles)...

 

I have a lot more doubts regarding the team relay, because of the start time and because most swimmers could refuse to double up the races in the same day...

 

however, today we just saw a true farce, with the LEN's judges putting at risk the health of many swimmers...

[heywoodu 15,174]

20 hours ago, Vektor said:

Um, wtf did just happen? Nobody has any clue, apparently not even the swimmers  What an absolute joke from the Italian organizers, not worthy for the European Championships. 

Just rewatched it, luckily skipping big parts, and the feeling of what the fuck started when someone got to the finish but some red lines were in front of it, some more arrived and suddenly some where out of the water and others kept swimming and what on earth was going on

 

But yeah, now reading things from swimmers and coaches: it seems that anyone involved (other than swimmers and coaches) with this event in Rome (the open water, of course) won't need to try and be involved in any other open water event again, because they had zero clue what they were doing...

[phelps 7,706]

earlier this morning, during the 10k our TV made an interview with our Open Water Swimming National Director, Stefano Rubaudo, and he confirmed that all the mess was created by the LEN judges (no one of them being Italian), who were completely clueless in a difficult situation like that...

 

and it happened because 99% of European judges are a bunch of amateurs, not used to consistently work on this kind of races, as most Countries have very few races/year and almost all in those "big pools" like small lakes and artificial basins...

 

at the same time, in Italy we organize hundreds of open water swimming races/year, almost all of them at sea...and we have a corpse of well trained judges who know how to manage these situations...

 

not only, he also said that LEN didn't want to take in consideration any sort of plan B (which were proposed by our team and by the organizers), when they were said that the sea in the afternoon might well get complicated...

 

so, the only part to blame is LEN...and that was to be expected after the new (inept) president replaced Barelli last year (p.s. expect more disasters in the future with these people in charge)...

[phelps 7,706]

team relay about to start (15 mins later than expected, after another messy setup by LEN)...

 

only 5 teams competing (ITA, GER, FRA, HUN and ESP) with almost all the swimmers doubling up the 10k effort from earlier this morning...

[phelps 7,706]

and here we go, the neverending farce is still on! 

 

after more than 3 months, LEN decided to award the controversial medals (and the respective prize money) of the 25km races at the Swimming European Championships held last Summer in Rome   

 

Full story:

 

LEN ANNOUNCES REVISION OF OPEN WATER SWIMMING RESULTS

 

Following an extensive investigation into incidents at two LEN Open Water events, where the safety of athletes had been compromised, LEN has decided to revise the competition results and has set up a process to create a new LEN Technical Open Water Swimming Committee (TOWSC).                                                                                  

LEN decided to open an independent investigation into the Open Water Swimming events in Ostia (The European Championships 25 km held on August 20, 2022) and Kiel (LEN OWS Cup leg held on August 26, 2022) during its Executive meeting in Split on September 9, to reinforce the principle that the safety of athletes must be the number 1 priority.

 

The investigation was conducted by the independent UK based company Quest, working alongside a subject matter expert.

 

They performed interviews and analyzed feedback from questionnaires to establish the facts and draw up the following conclusions:

 

* The decision to suspend the 25KM race in Ostia by the Chief Referees and Safety Office after over 3 hours was made in accordance with the FINA rules and had a clear rationale.

 

* The decision to overrule the suspension by the TOWSC Commission was in breach with the FINA Open Water rules and caused confusion among swimmers and coaches.

The TOWSC decision not to award medals for that event was incorrect.

 

Based on these recommendations, the LEN Executive set up a Special Committee who requested that the Chief Referees at the two events establish an athlete ranking at the time of the race suspension.

 

This was then verified by study of the relevant TV footage.

 

With this information at hand, the LEN Bureau has decided to honour the performance of the athletes and award medals and prize money for the 25KM races of the European Championships based on the ranking established by the Chief Referees, which is as follows:

 

Men's Results

 

1  SANZULLO Mario

2  VERANI Dario

3  FURLAN Matteo

4  REYMOND Axel

5  SCHOUTEN Marcel

6  KOZUBEK Matej

7  BOTTELIER Lars

8  SARKANY Zalan

9  WASCHBURGER Andreas

10  LANGNER Ben

11  STRAKA Martin

12  MAGNE Matthieu

13  VERPLAETSE Alexandre

DNF  GALICZ Peter

 

Chief Referee: Volkan Unutmaz

 

Women's Results

 

1  JOUISSE Caroline

2  POZZOBON Barbara

3  SANTONI Veronica

4  GRANGEON DE VILLELE Lara

5  POU Lisa

6  BALOGH Vivien

7  CICCARELLA Silvia

8  LINKA Elea

9  VAS Luca

 

Chief Referee: Malul Itzhak

 

Medals will be awarded at an appropriate moment in the coming months and prize money will be paid accordingly.

 

New Open Water Committee to reinforce key principles

 

The investigators, the Special Committee and the Executive made several observations during the investigation process and their conclusion was that:

 

* Safety needs to be the highest priority and concern at any LEN open water competition.

 

* Procedures need to be strengthened, clearly communicated, and documented.

 

As a result, the LEN Bureau has decided that there is a need for stronger leadership skills and knowledge of Open Water Swimming Rules and appropriate procedures in the Technical Open Water Swimming Committee.

 

This will help to ensure safe races and further development of the Open Water Swimming discipline of our sport.

 

The LEN Bureau has decided to form a new Technical Open Water Committee based on a skills matrix.

 

All federations will soon be able to submit candidates based on the required skills.

 

Applications will also be accepted from members of the current TOWSC, that is currently suspended.