More medals in swimming

[Frenchie]

Woo-hoo. Well done to Patten and Payne*. What a race too and such a good addition to the Olympics the open water 10 km race is.

I don't know Patten but Kerri-Ann Payne is a lovely person too and this medal is a great reward for a sport that gets little exposure.

The SA swimmer inspired such admiration too; 16th overall and not very much behind.

[andygates]

That'll be Natalie du Toit, who competed as a kid, lost her leg, and just carried on competing.  Huge respect.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

I saw the highlights this morning, which took about ten minutes. It was an amazing race, but such a shame for the two girls who kept in the lead the whole way and then lost it in the last 300m.

[andygates]

Just like any distance race, though - happens in marathons, happens in Tour stages - the trick to winning is in playing that tactical game at the end. 

If I was being harsh, I'd say that they should have kept some in reserve or forced the Russian to take some of the pace, but when it comes to open-water swimming I'm at the back of the pack desperately looking for someone to follow (or the next turn buoy); looking for the churn of a slipstream is easy compared to real at-the-front tactics!

We got the moral victory

[Frenchie]

The Russian is well known for her tactic -- waiting game followed by a sprint. The British girls did all they could I'd say. They forced the Russian the "long" way around.

Again, what a race though!

[scott]

I hadn't heard of this new event before yesterday, but it definitely seems more exciting than a lot of other events. I'll have to see if I can find a highlights program somewhere (a lot of BBC stuff isn't viewable here).

[mattc]

Just like any distance race, though - happens in marathons, happens in Tour stages - the trick to winning is in playing that tactical game at the end. 

I know about cycling, but how much drafting benefit is there in distance running and swimming?

(I can see how a headwind could create quite a big slipstream for runners - swimming is a whole different world of fluid dynamics, so I'm clueless! )

[Hello, I am Bruce]

Just like any distance race, though - happens in marathons, happens in Tour stages - the trick to winning is in playing that tactical game at the end. 

I know about cycling, but how much drafting benefit is there in distance running and swimming?

(I can see how a headwind could create quite a big slipstream for runners - swimming is a whole different world of fluid dynamics, so I'm clueless! )

It helps a lot in swimming.  I find that in an indoor triathlon with several people to a lane, I will swim easily behind someone else but be unable to overtake or keep the same pace if I pass them at the end of the lane.  I've learnt that it's better just to stay behind and save my energy.  Outdoors, it can be difficult to catch up with someone else, but easy to stay with them once I get there.

It's weird though, because I picture the person in front pushing water back which should slow me down.  But they must actually pull water along behind them.  I guess the water that is pushed back goes out to the sides or down.

[andygates]

Aye, you're swimming in their froth, which is moving along behind them - effectively, you get a tailwind (tail current?).  It has a load of benefit swimming in open-water triathlons too - in addition to saving energy, you have to sight less often if you're following a (smart) swimmer, you can just tool along keeping their ankles in view.

[mattc]

Thanks.
I knew you'd be in a slipstream that would reduce drag, but swimmers do go on and on about finding 'clean' water to pull their hand through for maximum effect. So I wondered if there would be sufficient negative effect from the turbulence.

Apparently not!