This weekend the best open water swimmers in the United States will gather at Lake Castaic for the 2013 nationals championships. There’s a lot on the line in the 10K and the 5K races; both are selection events for the FINA World Championships. Here’s some of the numbers.
6 – total laps in the 10K
14:59.05 the fastest 1500 meter entry time 2012 pool Olympian: 2012 10K national champion Andrew Gemmell
20 – The size of the women’s 10K field
2 – the number of FINA World Cup wins in 2013 for Emily Brunemann
1 – the number of siblings of an Olympic gold medalist: Tyler Clary’s 17 year old sister Lindsey Clary from FAST will be in the mix
37 – the age of the oldest competitor entered – Heidi George in the 10K
1650 – the number of meters on one lap of the course
15 – the age of the youngest female competitor in the 10K. Becca Mann who was a finalist in the 400 IM at last year’s Olympic trials also went on to win titles in the pool and open water at the 2012 Jr. Pan Pacific Champs.
31 – the age of the oldest man entered in the 10K. Brandon Johnson of PASA posted a 16:14.29 in the 1500 to qualify for this race.
38 – the number of men entered in the 10K
Tune into the live broadcast on USA Swimming’s open water page. I’ll be fielding questions via Twitter during the broadcast @mike2swim
EVA FABIAN ALL THE WAY
This might be Mann’s best shot at Spain since I’m not sure she’s quite ready yet to snare the second spot in the pool 800 free from Chloe Sutton. Be interesting to see how she does here.
Becca has just as much of a shot in the 200 fly as she does in the 800 free.
Agree on the 200 fly…especially if Hersey isn’t swimming. Things are pretty thin there.