The race was eventually called at the halfway mark due to safety concerns, with Keller in fifth place at that point. Traditionally, the official finish is determined based on where a swimmer is when they cancel the race. However, after the race, the FINA Technical Committee announced that the race will be finished on Sunday.
The men’s 25K will begin as planned at 10 a.m., and the women will finish the remaining half of their 25K race beginning at 10:05 a.m. Germany’s Britta Kamrau-Corestein was the leader when the race was initially stopped, so she will start first. The rest of the field will then start in order based on the exact times of when they stopped the race.
It is an unprecedented move in open water swimming, and Keller and the U.S. coaches have not yet determined whether or not she will swim on Sunday.
“We’re going to go with the flow and try to get as much information as we can before we make a decision,” said Bill Rose, U.S. open water head coach. “We talked with Kalyn, and we’re trying to assess the situation in terms of the fact that this has never been done before. Since we have all night to decide, we will reassess the situation in the morning based on her physical and mental condition, as well as the weather.”
In terms of the actual race, which was her first 25K, Keller was overwhelmed with the experience.
“That was a terrifying experience,” said Keller, who was a fourth-place finisher in the 800m freestyle at the 2004 Olympic Games. “I don’t know if it was my lack of experience that I was freaking out, but I thought it was a bad dream.
“Last night I joked about the winds being hurricane force, and I would qualify that as feeling like hurricane-force winds. I’ve never really been in the ocean when it was pouring rain or windy like that, and I don’t know if it was just me that needed to calm down, but all I know is that I was just going to keep it moving.”
Open water assistant coach Steve Munatones, who was on one of the feeding pontoons during the race, said waves were easily three to five feet, if not higher, during the race.
“It seemed like some of these swimmers were body surfing these swells coming in,” Munatones said. “There were two squalls during that race where rain was just coming down in buckets. The wind and waves were so strong that turn buoys anchored in to the bottom of the ocean floor with anchors were being torn away.”
Mark Warkentin (Santa Barbara, Calif. / Santa Barbara Swim Club) and Scott Kaufmann (Sparks, Nev. / Reno Aquatic Club) are expected to face similar weather conditions in Sunday’s men’s 25K, the final open water race of the championships.
More Quotes on the Stopped Women's 25k Open Water Race from TEam USA Staff and Swimmers Page 2
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