An Open-Water Test for Swimmers

Fabrice Coffrini/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesKeri-Anne Payne practicing last month in London.

The 10-kilometer marathon open-water swim is perhaps the most arduous swimming event at the London Olympics, and it takes a special athlete to undertake its challenges.
There will be no temperature-controlled pool water, lanes or starting blocks. There are finishing times that average two hours, fluctuating elements and the occasional kick or elbow to the face.
“To swim at that level, you have to be in the best shape in the world,” said Bryan Krut, coach of Open Water Swim Long Island.
Krut compared the event to running two back-to-back marathons. “The swimmers that are competing in this are the best swimmers in the world, and probably the toughest athletes in the world,” he said.
When the women’s race is held Thursday morning, it will be only the second time the event has been held at the Olympics. Among those scheduled to compete is the 20-year-old American Haley Anderson, who placed fourth in the 25-kilometer race at the 2010 open-water world championships.
The race will be held at Hyde Park, where swimmers will jump into the Serpentine, a 28-acre lake, and complete six laps. The course is marked by buoys, and the swimmers pass through a timing gate after each lap.
Krut, an accomplished open-water swimmer with five first-place finishes in the Cross Bay Swim, said most open-water swimmers must not only have the dedication, but also the “freak” X-factor to endure, and finish, the event.
“These guys and gals are professionals, they are freaks of nature in some aspects of it,” he said. “It’s either you have it or you don’t.”
Many of the top 10 finishers from the 2008 Olympic race will compete on Thursday: the silver medal winner Keri-Anne Payne of Great Britain, the fourth-place finisher Angela Maurer of Germany, the seventh-place Swann Oberson of Switzerland, the eighth-place Jana Pechanova of the Czech Republic and the 10th-place Martina Grimaldi of Italy