BIRCHER LEADS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SQUAD
A team of three open water swimmers will contest the distance
events at the FINA World Championships next year following
the squad's formal selection by British Swimming.
Alan Bircher (University of Bath), Cassie Patten and Keri-Anne
Payne (both Stockport Metro) will take to the waters off St
Kilda's beach in Melbourne where medals in the 5km, 10km and
25km will be decided.
For Bircher it will be his third World Championships and
he will go into Melbourne looking to improve on the fifth
and seventh place finishes he secured, in the 5km and 10km
respectively, at Montreal in 2005.
For Patten and Payne it will be their first outing at a World
Championships although both have impressed since making the
transition from the pool into open water events.
Bircher ended his open water season on a high, after a disappointing
start, by taking back-to-back victories in the FINA Marathon
Swimming World Cup series.
"This season for me has been about getting back into
the kind of shape I was in before I left to live in Germany
in 2005," said Bircher. "Towards the end of the
season I felt that form coming back and I'm excited about
going to Australia.
"For me the 10km will be my main focus as it's now an
Olympic event. That's the one that matters and there will
be a lot of new faces as a result but I hope to have that
foundation of work that will count when it matters.
"I've been training hard in Australia these past couple
of weeks with a couple of guys who focus on the 25km distance.
Whereas it's been exhausting, I know it will pay off by the
time we get to Melbourne in March."
Bircher will be aiming to take the next step from a fifth
place finish two years ago to a spot on the podium but is
under no illusion about the size of the task ahead.
"I have to look at what it takes to get a medal but
I just know there are going to be a pack of 25 big guys all
wrestling for the finish. It's going to be tough to achieve
success but that is what I have to aim at," explained
Bircher.
Patten's first season contesting distances of 5km and 10km
have not only given her valuable experience she'll draw on
in Melbourne, it's also delivered the LEN European Cup crown.
Both Bircher and Patten booked their places on the British
team with top 10 finishes at the World Open Water Swimming
Championships in August. Newcomer Payne gained qualification
for Melbourne at a time trial in Loughborough earlier this
month.
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