EIGHTEEN USA JUNIORS ATTEND FINA WORLD CUP IN TOKYO
EIGHTEEN USA JUNIORS ATTEND FINA WORLD CUP IN TOKYO
Headlining the roster are Gunnar Bentz (Atlanta, Ga.) and Kathryn McLaughlin (Dana Point, Calif.), who won four medals each at the 2013 FINA World Junior Championships in Dubai. A complete roster is available here.
In total, the 18 U.S. swimmers headed to Tokyo and Beijing combined to win 23 medals at August’s Junior Worlds. Individual gold medalists slated to compete include Bentz, McLaughlin, Ella Eastin (Irvine, Calif.), Becca Mann (Homer Glen, Ill.) and Kylie Stewart (Atlanta, Ga.).
Bill Rose, head coach of the Mission Viejo (Calif.) Nadadores, is serving as the group’s head coach. Ron Aitken of the Sandpipers of Nevada is his assistant.
The juniors will receive guidance from veteran USA Swimming National Team members Anthony Ervin (Valencia, Calif.) and Tom Shields (Huntington Beach, Calif.), who also will compete in Tokyo and Beijing.
The Americans will compete Saturday and Sunday in Tokyo before swimming Nov. 13-14 in Beijing. Visit fina.orgfor complete World Cup information.
This trip marks the third consecutive year USA Swimming has sent a top team of juniors to face top international competition at FINA World Cup events with demonstrated benefits for these swimmers’ development.
Roughly 94 percent of the 2011 and 2012 18-and-under World Cup athletes have gone on to represent the U.S. at other international competitions with 75 percent earning medals. In the last two years, five of these athletes have competed at either the Olympic Games or FINA World Championships, with four winning an individual or relay medal.
ATHLETES BLOG:
Eighteen of the nation’s top 18-and-under swimmers are representing USA Swimming this month at FINA World Cup events in Tokyo and Beijing. The members of the team will share their experiences throughout the trip via occasional blog entries.
Friday, Nov. 8: Curtis Ogren (Menlo Park, Calif.)
We are all having such a great time! At breakfast, we witnessed Gunnar Bentz getting a taste of the fermented soybeans!
Team USA got to do a pre-meet tune-up. Tony (Anthony Ervin) taught us how to have a powerful start off of the blocks - to focus on going forward, not upward. We also got to do some pace work.
At lunch, Paul Powers and I had some really spicy noodles! They were hotter than we expected. Then there was some down time. It was time for homework, going on the roof, buying Japanese candy, and simply chilling!
Before going to the pool in the afternoon, there was a team meeting with Tony, Tom Shields and the coaching staff. They said that we need to embrace the moment, and learn from our experience here. Our goal is to get used to the FINA structure and to keep up the good reputation of team USA.
We are all so pumped to transfer our energy into pure speed tomorrow morning!
Quick shoutout to my friends and family back home. Thanks for the support! We're so excited to finally start racing!
Friday, Nov. 8: Ella Eastin (Irvine, Calif.)
Team USA spent the day today preparing for the start of the Tokyo World Cup tomorrow. All of us went to the pool twice and did a meet warm up to mimic getting ready for our races. Tom (Shields) and Tony (Ervin) helped the team with our backstroke and block starts and gave us words of encouragement at the meeting to prepare to compete and take in the full experience. Between practice sessions we spent the day together at the hotel getting to know each other and resting. All of us are pumped to start the meet and take in the international experience. Personally, I'm most excited about taking my memories and experiences back to SoCal to share with my awesome coaches and teammates. Go USA!
Thursday, Nov. 7: Gunnar Bentz (Atlanta, Ga.)
Today was our first full day in Tokyo for the World Cup! After breakfast, we went to the pool to loosen up. After a pretty tough workout from Coach Rose, we went to the Asakusa temple and marketplace. We had a really fun time walking around and buying souvenirs. The guys have been using the sauna and bath at our hotel to relax and recover from travel. We have just one more day until competition and we are all super excited to swim! Shoutout to my friends and family back home, see you guys when I get home.
Thursday, Nov. 7: Kylie Stewart (Atlanta, Ga.)
The Junior World Cup team has arrived in Tokyo, Japan. Upon arriving, we headed straight to the hotel and ate our first Japanese meal and a brief team meeting where we met the coaches and staff members before heading to bed. With the 14 hour time change from the east coast, it was difficult to sleep the whole night. Thursday morning after breakfast we headed to the pool for our first practice as a team. The practice was more of a warm up and to get a feel for the water. After our practice we had a "team warm down" that brought us closer together … literally. After our morning practice we had lunch at the pool and then hopped on a bus and headed to downtown Tokyo to a marketplace where we shopped for almost three hours. There were tons of school kids who came up and asked for pictures and actually interviewed us in English. Getting to see the city and explore the streets and see the culture was an amazing experience. After shopping in the marketplace we headed back to the pool for our second practice. After our practice, Tom Shields, a National Team representative, helped us with backstroke starts. We then continued back to the hotel to eat dinner and then celebrated Paul Powers' birthday by getting him ice cream. We ended the night by hanging out with our teammates in the hotel. I'm looking forward to the rest of the trip and can't wait to see what's in store.
