I just saw this article "Swimmer’s death leaves open questions":
"Asked if he’d ever try the event, US swimmer Michael Phelps said, “Not a chance, no way. I won’t do open water.’’
I'm a bit surprised. Is he scared of the dangers of open water? Or is he technically competitive in open water? :rolleyes: Have there been any swimmers who won both pool medal and open-water medal in world events?
People certainly do solo channel swims all four strokes, but I can see some practical difficulties with actual races:
Back: How do you know where you're going?
Fly: clashing arms
***: clashing legs (can you imagine a frog kick to the face with swedish goggles on?)
Also...keeping legal strokes (due to waves) and monitoring that. No way you could have enough refs to watch and the water clarity would compound matters.
People certainly do solo channel swims all four strokes, but I can see some practical difficulties with actual races:
Back: How do you know where you're going?
Fly: clashing arms
***: clashing legs (can you imagine a frog kick to the face with swedish goggles on?)
Also...keeping legal strokes (due to waves) and monitoring that. No way you could have enough refs to watch and the water clarity would compound matters.
