That's the only way to describe it. What a nightmare!
The unthinkable has happened at a World Cup 10k in the United Arab Emirates.
Team USA open water superstar Fran Crippen died during a race - a race swum in very warm water.
Swimming World has been updating the story all day. Read their latest post here.
5 comments:
What a tragic loss.
Got this news from a parent who has a son on the National Junior Team. Her son looked up to Fran. RIP Fran. You will continue to be an inspiration!
still cannot wrap my head around the how and why this happened.
Horrible news. Thoughts and prayers to his family and friends.
Seems there are rules about minimum allowed temperatures, nothing about upper limits. My swimmers start complaining if the temp gets above 82. Of course, they scream if it's below 80, but open water and marathon swimmers accept a higher range of extremes.
The bigger issue, according to many comments on the swiminfo.com story, is inadequate supervision and monitoring. The URLs of the two detail stories are:
First story:
http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/25369.asp
Follow-up:
http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/25395.asp?q=The-Tragedy-of-Fran-Crippen%27s-Passing
I've already been in touch with Dick Shoulberg, his coach at GA. Needless to say, they are devastated. We all are. Fran was a great young man, a wonderful role model. Thoughts and prayers with his family and friends worldwide.
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