Streamlined News, Aug. 9, 2011

PHOENIX, Arizona, August 9. DIANA Nyad has ended her quest to swim from Cuba to Florida today, stopping slightly less than halfway through the journey. The 62-year-old began swimming off the shore of Havana on Sunday evening, and had been experiencing should problems a few hours into the swim. Nyad voluntarily stopped when high winds and currents began pushing her well off course. She stopped swimming at 12:45 a.m. Eastern time today and arrived at a Key West, Florida, hospital a few hours later. Nyad said she is not sad that she had to end the swim, and is expected to recover from the ordeal. She later told the media that she does not plan to attempt the swim again.

The USA Swimming junior nationals started off yesterday in Palo Alto, California, and the swim of the first day is a toss-up between Emma Schoettmer's win in the 200 breast and Katie Ledecky's victory in the 800 free. Schoettmer, a 17-year-old who swims for Center Grove Aquatics, won the 200 breast in 2:27.99, which is a best time by one-hundredth of a second. At the national championships on Saturday, Schoettmer placed sixth in the 200 breast with a 2:28.00. Ledecky did not swim the 800 free at nationals, but if she did, her time 8:36.05 from last night would have been fourth. You can read about the other winners from the first night of juniors at swimmingworld.com.

The FINA open water grand prix conducted two long races on Saturday and Sunday, with the 34-kilometer race won by Petar Stoychev. Stoychev had won the 25k world championship title three weeks ago under less than ideal conditions, and on Saturday he won the 34K swim in Canada in seven hours and 25 minutes, nine seconds ahead of Ian Van Der Hulst. Pilar Geijo won the women's race in seven hours and 51 minutes, a full 20 minutes ahead of second-place Esther Morera. On Sunday, 31 swimmers participated in a 19K race in Serbia. The winner on the men's side there was Guillermo Bertola, with Karla Sitic winning the women's race. The final race on the grand prix circuit is next Tuesday, a 30-kilometer race in the Republic of Macedonia.

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