Northwestern University Athletics
Erica Rose Finishes 14th at FINA World Championships
7/19/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
July 19, 2001
After a strong start at the FINA World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, Northwestern sophomore Erica Rose finished 14th in the 10-kilometer competition.
Rose led the women's field until about the 7.5 kilometer mark and then lost steam. The strong group of swimmers behind her had been biding their time and used her fatigue to their advantage.
"I was feeling great until about 7.5 kilometers in," Rose said. "I was doing what I was supposed to do until the third turn on the second time around. I don't know what happened. I got run over. I don't think there was any other way I could have swum it, but I just couldn't pick it up at the end."
"Erica is a frontrunner," U.S. coach Rick Walker said. "She had to swim it like that and she could do the same thing tomorrow and maybe win the race. You just never know what's going to happen out there."
Germany's Peggy Busche won the women's event in two hours, 17 minutes, 32 seconds. Rose finished in 2:22:49, while her U.S. teammate Elizabeth Lavell's finished 20th in a time of 2:43:53.
On the men's side, John Flanagan posted the top finish for the U.S. team, taking fourth. Teammate Patrick Dideum was 13th in the same event, competing in his first international competition.
Flanagan's plan was to stay with the pack for the first half of the race and then make his move. When the main group spread out early into the race, Flanagan got stuck behind the lead pack.
"At one point I looked up and I had lines (of swimmers) to the right and left of me and that's when I noticed how far behind the leaders I was," Flanagan said. "I tried to pick it up at the turn, but the guy next to me did a good job of blocking my way. If I went right, he went right. When I went left, he went left. He cut me off at every angle. He did a good job of holding me back and keeping me from getting up to the front pack. With about 1500m to go, the group surged and I was eventually able to get around him, but by then it was too late.
"I'm happy with how I swam it. I was dead at the end. I didn't look back and just kept going forward even though I knew I wasn't going to catch the leaders. I'm happy I didn't give up."
Russia's Vladmir Bezroutchenko won the men's race, but no times were available as the Italians are protesting a disqualification. Results are not expected to be made official until tomorrow at the earliest.
this story was posted on the USA Swimming website on July 19, 2001
