The Week That Was: Arno Kamminga, Xu Jiayu Return to Racing in Unofficial Time Trials

arno-kamminga-
Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

The Week That Was sponsored by Suitmate.

The swimming universe saw a glimpse of normalcy in the past week when some elite swimmers in Europe, Asia and Australia returned to the pool over the weekend after being away for an extended period of time due to the coronavirus. South African Chad Le Clos also announced that he was going to help raise money for charity in selling masks to those fighting the coronavirus head-on.

Read below the five biggest stories in The Week That Was sponsored by Suitmate.

The Week That Was #5: Ryan Lochte to Star in New NBC Documentary

ryan-lochte

Photo Courtesy: Connor Trimble

By Dan D’Addona

Ryan Lochte will be the subject of a documentary titled “In Deep With Ryan Lochte” by NBCUniversal’s new streaming service, the network announced Thursday.

The content, produced by Peackcock and NBC Sports Films, will be available to stream on July 15, 2020, when the service launches nationally.

The network description states:

“In Deep With Ryan Lochte” will explore the athlete’s much-covered scandal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio De Janeiro. Now four years past the incident and a father of two, Lochte tries once more to make his way onto the U.S. Olympic team and prove he isn’t the same man he once was.”

“Our variety of Peacock Originals at launch demonstrates how we deliver timely and timeless content – no matter the genre or format,” Peacock President of Original Content Bill McGoldrick said in a statement. “We’re proud to establish our voice and are excited to build on our strategy to attract a wide audience to Peacock.”

#4: Chad Le Clos Helps With Fight Against Coronavirus

chad-le-clos

Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant

By Liz Byrnes

Chad Le Clos is playing his part in the fight against coronavirus in South Africa by designing and distributing face masks.

The 2012 Olympic 200 fly champion, who is recovering from double surgery, is also raising money for the Chad le Clos Foundation whose aim is to develop swimming in the country with a focus on children from underprivileged backgrounds and also to offer assistance – financial and otherwise – to ensure swimmers reach their potential.

The 28-year-old, who is staying at his parents’ home in Durban, joined forces with a company called Expand a Sign in the city who were looking to help the community by developing face masks.

He told Swimming World:

“Discovery – one of my sponsors – bought 3000 and we’re giving them to the police in Johannesburg and we are giving to hospitals.

“And I am encouraging everyone in South Africa (and saying) that if they want to buy a mask 10 rand (0.55dollars) will go to my foundation which is helping swimming in South Africa.

“At the moment my academy had to close because of the lockdown so what I’ve done is set aside all the money that we’ve raised and put it into a fund which I’m giving out to swimmers who, for example, need to go to the World Cup or travel to swim at Mare Nostrum, up-and-coming swimmers.

“Also to community swimming projects in rural areas in Gugulethu, Soweto, big rural places.

“We have raised a couple of thousand dollars and we have a bit more coming in in November so we have some projects coming in at the end of December through to the first week in February if the lockdown has finished.

“We’re giving a percentage to swimmers who haven’t got a place to train and haven’t had an opportunity to go and get proper training.

“I’ve had the foundation for about a year and I am just trying to give back. South Africa is a country where we need to do good things.”

The Week That Was #3: Mid-American Conference Condenses Four-Day Championships to Three Days

akron-swimmers-mid-american-conference

Photo Courtesy: Mid-American Conference

By Andy Ross

This week, the Mid-American Conference announced it was changing its postseason for all of its sports in the 2020-21 academic year to stem the financial fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. The swimming and diving championships will now be three days, as opposed to the four-day meet that was started in 2015 with the 200 medley and 800 free relays on Wednesday night.

Akron won the women’s swimming and diving championships for the Mid-American Conference in 2020 while Missouri State won the men’s competition.

The coronavirus cancellations have had negative effects economically all over the United States. According to ESPN, several commissioners have discussed reducing scheduling and cutting back on travel but the Mid-American Conference is thus far the first league to formally make those changes.

#2: Cate Campbell Returns to Training in Brisbane

cate-campbell

Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant

By Ian Hanson, Oceania Correspondent

Cate Campbell has provided an exclusive insight into day one of her return to the pool in Brisbane today as Australia’s elite swimmers in the east coast Australian squads rolled up for training for the first time in eight weeks (Click on this link to Channel 7).

The three-time Olympian has kick-started her campaign for a fourth Olympics in next year’s postponed Games in Tokyo diving into familiar waters.

She has re-located back to her home in Queensland, temporarily leaving her “adopted” Sydney base, during the COVID-19 lockdown.

And with a “Swimming Australia hub” open for business for the first time in eight weeks under High Performance coach Vince Raleigh at Chandler’s Sleeman Aquatic Centre, Campbell lapped up the opportunity for a “cruisey” three-and-a-half kilometre session at Brisbane’s traditional home of swimming since 1981 and her old training base.

Campbell joined in the return with all elite squad swimmers under-going temperature testing on arrival and swimming one swimmer per lane.

Filming exclusively for Channel 7, Campbell said: “We took it pretty easy this morning, I think everybody is worried about getting injured but it was nice and cruisey which was wonderful…’an easy three-and-half ks’ the first step is always the hardest….but it was very good to be back in the water..it felt like coming home.”

The Week That Was #1: Unofficial Time Trials Get Underway in Netherlands & China

zibei-yan

Yan Zibei. Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant

By Andy Ross & Liz Byrnes

Xu Jiayu and Yang Junxuan reportedly put up swift times in a time trial during a practice session with the Chinese national swim team.

With the coronavirus quarantine in China ending a few weeks ago, many members of the Chinese national team have been participating in a training camp the last few weeks that was scheduled to last from April to June. According to reports on the Chinese social media site Weibo, there were some quick times posted at a time trial on Saturday.

2019 World Champ Xu Jiayu swam a 52.37 in the 100 backstroke, which was quicker than his 52.43 he swam in winning gold at the World Championships last year. Xu was one of the favorites to win gold in Tokyo over two laps after he won silver in Rio behind American Ryan Murphy. If Xu Jiayu can touch first in the final in Tokyo, he would be the first Chinese man to ever win the event at the Games and would be the first non-American to do so since 1992.

World junior record holder Yang Junxuan reportedly swam a 1:55.06 in the 200 freestyle, which was also faster than her 1:55.43 swim at the 2019 Worlds when she finished fifth. The time was under her world junior record time but will not count since the meet was not FINA sanctioned.

Also of note, 2019 Worlds bronze medalist Yan Zibei swam a 59.5 in the 100 breaststroke while Sun Jiajun was a 52.27 in the 100 butterfly. Xu, Yan, Zhang Yufei and Yang also combined to swim a mixed medley relay and reportedly swam a 3:40.26, which would have won a bronze medal at the 2019 Worlds.

Arno Kamminga went 59.24 in a 100m breaststroke time trial in Amsterdam to again underline the breakthrough that has seen him propel himself to the upper echelons of world swimming.

The Netherlands record holder was out in 27.86 and back in 31.38 and posted on social media: “Blessed to be back in the pool. Solid race after a tough week. #teamnl”

The time was quicker than both his performances at last year’s World Championships in GwangjuSouth Korea, where he clocked 59.39 and 59.49, finishing 13th overall.

The 24-year-old is back training in the Dutch capital after time out of the water because of the coronavirus lockdown in the Netherlands.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x