The 2nd round of the CMAS Finswimming World Cup was held from Friday, February 13 to Sunday, February 15 at the Y. Blanc pool in Aix en Provence. I did compete in the 50m apnea and the 200m surface on Saturday.
Our group composed of 5 athletes from our team, the Dauphins Genève and 1 athlete from the SLRG Oberwallis left Geneva on Friday morning to get to Aix en Provence in time, so we could watch the long distance races of the first day. On the morning of the 2nd day I had my 50m apnea which did go reasonable well but unfortunately with my time of 20.05, I was off my personal best.
Considering this was the first race of the morning and I was still trying to wake up and get all those impressions of being at the World Cup to sink in, I was happy with my performance.
Before the afternoon session there was the official “Opening Ceremony”. Nothing other than a presentation of all the countries and teams competing at the meet while walking into the pool. And of course some short speeches of the meet organizers and other “important” people. Although it probably killed my legs, it was a lot of fun as all the athletes really came together for a short time during this meet.
With my legs already sore from the walking, I still had to step up for my 200m surface race. It’s wasn’t a good race as I encountered major problems with my snorkel after the dive. I almost had to stop after my under water phase to put the snorkel back in place for racing. What followed was me going out to fast on the first 100m to catch up with the other swimmers in my heat and dying on that second 100m of the race.
After spending two fun days in Aix en Provence, I had to take the TGV on the same night to go back home. Although I still need to improve a lot, it was a lot of fun. Unfotunately, the end of this journey marked the end of my college break as well … so back to life and school since Monday.
Full results are finally available on the Commission National Nage Avec palmes website.