Tuesday 9th September 2008, Sharm el Sheikh : -- After an eventful Constant Weight competition, static was always going to prove interesting, particularly for the men; would the French have sufficient strength in the pool to stay ahead; would the Greeks establish a consistent rhythm and deliver three white cards again; and most importantly would the Kiwis pull back enough points to bring them back in reach of a podium position by the end of the competition?
Day one on 8th September saw some brave battles fought - and a few lost. Mullins thrilled the audience (a rare thing it static, it must be said) with a huge 8'11" performance and National Record, after what looked like a pretty horrible fight over the last few minutes. He was as clean and calm as ever and suddenly NZ looked like it might be back in the running. Also strong on day one were the Greeks with two clean performances, both over the 7 minute mark, Timo Kinnunen of Finland came in third with 7'28" and Martin Stepanek gave a great time at 7'13". Finn, Mikko Pontinnen came fifth and their third team member Andero Joki brought up seventh place, giving them a fabulously strong overall result and a relaxing day to sit back and watch their competitors on day two.
In the women's competition, Jessica Wilson of the USA came in top with a National Record at 6'35", Japan's Misuzu Hirai brought up second place with 5'56" and Russia's Nathalie Avseenko was third with 5'42". There was however some controversy in the women's competition as the USA women successfully protested Canadian, Julie Bisaillon, on surface protocol, seriously damaging Kirk's team's chances of making the top three in the final results.
Day two still had all to play for and the Kiwi men had made big announcements to go late to have a chance to calculate the points they had to make to creep ahead. The event started quietly with strong, clean performances from most athletes. The Swedish women took a blow with two red cards, one of which was later overturned in a protest, and Liv Philip from the UK was also DQed on what looked like being a National Record attempt. However the big drama, as everyone was expecting, came from the Kiwis - Ant Williams in Lane B and Will Trubridge in Lane D, with the same start time. Will looked strong and calm, and coached by team mate Dave Mullins, came up to a white card at 6'28". Just seconds later, Ant Williams , still down, suffered a huge black-out, adding to the penalty points accrued by them all in Constant Weight, and ending their hopes to climb onto the rostrum at the final ceremony. Positive news from the day, however, came from the Swedes, as Weine Gustavson, everyone's favourite freediver, topped the scoreboard with 7'07", Nathalia Molchanova came in second with 7'03", Ryozo Shinomiya third with 7'01" and Brazilian Ricardo Bahia fourth with 6'45". The last Greek member, Manolis Giankos, delivered a strong result with 6'33", a time that managed to secure the team enough
points to nudge them ahead of the French into first place.
So, in static it's Finland with 259.4, Greece with 254,4 and Czech Republic with 236.8. None of the teams can be complacent in the final Dynamics section though; Denmark lies a close fourth with 230.2 point and the Swedes are nipping at their heels with 229.4! No surprises for guessing who's leading in the women's comp - Russia looking strong and steady with 205.4 points, followed by USA with 200, and the Japanese women with 180.2.
It also remains close in the women's competition with France holding 179 points, and the Danes with 175.8.
OVERALL RESULTS after CONSTANT and STATIC
WOMEN
Russia 410,4
USA 371,0
Japan 363,2
Denmark 317,8
Czech 306,8
MEN
Greece 511,4
France 486,2
Czech 483,8
Sweden 455,4
Finland 452,2
Denmark 424,2
Lees hier het eerste persbericht
