The circumstances? “Nice Italian warm”, says Thijs Hagelstein, coach of the open water swimmers. In the seaside resort of Ostia, near Rome, the 10 kilometers for women during the European Swimming Championships will start on Friday, with Sharon van Rouwendaal as one of the big favorites. Based on historical data, Hagelstein expects a water temperature of “about 26.27 degrees”.
“Reasonably reasonable,” he thinks. In any case, it is more reasonable than in Tokyo, during the Games last year, where the temperature of the water went towards 30 degrees. In fact, that was pretty close to the upper limit of open water swimming, 31 degrees, which was set after the death of American Francis Crippen, who died in 2010 during a race in the United Arab Emirates, which fellow swimmers say was very hot.
Tokyo was indeed “absurd,” says open water swimmer Ferry Weertman, who finished seventh in the Olympic 10 kilometers last year (after gold in 2016) and stopped competing shortly after. But when asked about the 27 degrees in Ostia, he says with a smile: “That’s warm too. At the 10 kilometers you are still exerting yourself for almost two hours.”
In addition, the sea in Ostia will not be calm. Due to gusts of wind and high waves, the race, which was to take place this Thursday, was postponed one day. And it is still not certain whether the 10 kilometers will take place on Friday.
Anyway, Hagelstein isn’t going to complain about it. Yes, the turbulent sea makes for tough conditions, but swimmers also like that, he says. It is the organization that wanted to postpone the race, especially because the pontoons cannot handle the high winds well.
And Hagelstein is certainly not impressed by that Italian warmth. While several marathon runners recently called for a later start at the simultaneously held European Athletics Championships in Munich in an open letter due to the expected heat, there is more acceptance in the world of open water swimming, he says.
heat training
That is not to say that heat is not taken seriously by open water swimmers. In the run-up to the Games in sweltering Tokyo, they, like many other Olympic athletes, went into heat training. In preparation, Weertman swam in warm countries around the equator, such as the Seychelles and Singapore. Van Rouwendaal stepped into a jacuzzi for twenty minutes after training.
“You get to know your body in that heat,” says Weertman, who is also world champion in the 10 kilometers in addition to being Olympic. “How do I deal with it? Do I realize I’m getting tired? You don’t want to go overboard too early.” Because you’re in the water, he says, you don’t notice that you’re sweating at all in the beginning. “That is where the great danger lies. You don’t feel that you are very hot.”
There are also short-term ways to combat the heat before a match: cooling vests and drinking ice-cold ‘slushies’. It won’t be necessary in Italy, but it was in Tokyo.
But how far do you have to go as a coach to guide sportsmen and women through these kinds of tough conditions? “A legitimate question,” says Hagelstein. “At a certain point you get to a complicated point from a medical-ethical point of view. I think of time trialists during the warm-up with an ice bag on their neck. A neurological trick, so you can fool your body that it is colder. But to what extent do you want that? The risk is that your body thinks it can go on for too long.” At the same time, he says, harsh conditions suit open water swimming. “That’s the charm too.”
rough sea
Weertman sees it that way too. “Of course safety comes first, but open water swimming is a battle against the elements. That rough sea that is now near Ostia, I think it’s beautiful. Strong winds, lots of waves, hot or cold. That’s part of it.”
As an athlete you can train on that. And if anyone can have a lot, he says, it is Van Rouwendaal. During the Rio Games (2016) she won gold in the 10 kilometers at sea. In Glasgow (2018) she became European champion in a loch. In the warm bay of Tokyo, she took silver last year. And just two months ago, she won her first world title at the world championships in a lake in Budapest. Weertman: “Sharon has shown that she is an all-rounder.”
Hagelstein is also happy that people swim in the open sea in Italy. He is looking forward to “a nice breeze and a lot of waves. That gives dynamism.” That has been different in recent years. Recently, organizations have often opted for relatively calm waters. “For the benefit of people who can swim fast.”
Not everyone in open water swimming can appreciate that. So are other shifts the sport has gone through in recent years, Hagelstein says. For example, in the past the 25 kilometers was the main distance. But that is, to the chagrin of the diehardschanged since the 10 kilometers became Olympic in 2008 (with Maarten van der Weijden as the first champion in the men).
In the past, swimmers used to jump into icy water wearing only a swimsuit or pants. Now a wetsuit is mandatory up to 18 degrees. Hagelstein: “There are plenty of old bosses in the circuit who think that poseritis.”
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of August 18, 2022