Britain’s Alan Bircher had to watch as the closest 10km open water World Championship battle in history unfolded before him with gold and silver separated by just 0.06 of a second off the St Kilda shore in Melbourne.
The University of Bath swimmer finished eighth in the pack chasing for medals but it was Russian Vladimir Dyatchin who eventually took gold by a fingernail in 1:55:32.52 from Germany’s Thomas Lurz in 1:55:32.58 with bronze going to Russian Evgeny Drattsev in 1:55:47.31.
A disappointed Bircher, who failed to find his form all day in the good conditions at St Kilda, finished the Olympic distance in what was a very fast 1:55:53.91 for the event.
“I felt sluggish from the start, after 20 minutes I just knew it wasn’t going to be my day. I stayed with the pack right until the end but I knew coming around the final buoy that my legs had gone and I wasn’t able to respond,” said Bircher.
“I feel fit at the moment so there’s no reason I can think of as to why I felt fatigued. I just think it was one of those swims. It’s disappointing because I’ve trained hard for this.”
Bircher, and the rest of the field of 55, suffered once again as yesterday’s women had with jellyfish and the painful problem was a constant around the course.
For Bircher though it wasn’t the jellyfish but repeated volleys of arms and legs that caused him most problems.
“It was difficult out there, not because of the conditions, but because it got quite scrappy. There are some big guys and my arms got tired trying to hold people off,” said Bircher.
“It ranks up there as one of the hardest races I’ve done but to be so close to the medals doesn’t make it any easier to come to terms with.”
Despite missing out on a medal there were positives for Bircher who was pleased with his tactics which he felt worked and would have paid off if he was able to call on his strength and speed at the end of the race.
“I normally like to go out fast but today I chose different tactics and that was to hold back with the pack until the final lap,” said Bircher. “When the leaders left the group I tried to follow and clung onto the battle for bronze.
“The time when you need to call on the power and speed came but unfortunately it wasn’t there. I couldn’t react as I would have liked.
“I feel I’m getting back towards my best after two disruptive years. The bronze was so close today just not close enough and I’ll be working to get into the medals in future.”
-ends-
The 12th FINA World Championships will take place from 17th March until 1st April 2007.
The British team comprises:
Alan Bircher - University of Bath
Cassie Patten - Stockport Metro
Keri-anne Payne - Stockport Metro
Diving events take place from 19th to 26th March.
Swimming takes place from 25th March to 1st April.
Open Water takes place from 18th to 25th March.
Synchro takes place from 17th to 24th March
For further details contact Dave Richards, British Swimming Media Manager, on 01509 632237, 0778 992 6136 or email dave.richards@swimming.org <mailto:dave.richards@swimming.org>
British Swimming is the National Governing Body for Swimming, Diving, Synchronised Swimming, Water Polo and Open Water in Great Britain. It is responsible internationally for the high performance representation of the sport. The members of British Swimming are the three Home Countries national governing bodies of England (Amateur Swimming Association), Scotland (Scottish Amateur Swimming Association) and Wales. (Welsh Amateur Swimming Association) British Swimming seeks to enable its athletes to achieve gold medal success at the Olympics, Paralympics, World Championships and Commonwealth Games.
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