13th European Masters Championships in , Diving, Synchronised Swimming and Open Water Swimming

18 former Olympic, World, and European Championship medallists will compete in Yalta and Kiev

Yalta (pps) The upcoming 13th edition of the European Masters Championships, hosted by the Ukrainian Swimming Federation together with the Cities of Yalta and Kiev from September 5th to 10th, will be held at a historical site. Situated on the shores of the Black Sea, Yalta will host the 36 events in Swimming with titles being awarded from age group 25‐29 up to age group 90‐94. The programme in Synchronised Swimming comprises four events: Solo, Duet, Team, and for the first time, the Free Combination.

The Open Water Swimming competition (Men and Women) features a 3km course that will be held along Yalta’s famous Massandra Beach on the Black Sea on the final day of the Championships, September 10th. Due to the fact that Yalta does not have an appropriate diving platform the Diving Competition will be carried out in ’s capital Kiev from September 6th to 9th.

The Swimming events will take place in the 50m outdoor pool of Ukraine’s biggest hotel (1,140 rooms), the Hotel Yalta. At least 18 medal winners in Olympic Games, World and European Championships have already announced their participation. Among them Ukraine’s almost entire “national team”, headed by ten‐time European medal winner (individual events) Svitlana Bondarenko (age group 40‐44). Last year she still competed in the 100m breaststroke event at the European Swimming Championships in Budapest (HUN) as the oldest competitor.

Additionally, former World and European Champion in the 50m breaststroke, Oleg Lisogor (age group 30‐34), Andriy Serdinov (he will start only in relay events), Sergiy Breus (both in the age group 25‐29), as well as Denis Silantiyev (age group 35‐39) will represent the Ukraine. Sergey Fesenko (also from Ukraine, age group 50‐54) will compete as well – representing the he won the gold medal in the 200m butterfly at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. Fesenko is a Member of the LEN Masters Committee. A further well‐known name on the entry list is Romania’s Razvan Florea (age group 30‐34).

The oldest participants in age group 90‐94 come from and Germany. Vladmir Volko of Russia, born in 1919, will compete in the 100m freestyle and 50m and 100m backstroke events. Germany’s Ingeborg Fritze, born in 1921, plans to start in the 100m freestyle as well as the 50m, 100m, and 200m breaststroke events. The SC Aqua Masters Kiev has entered the largest number of participants with a total of 84 swimmers, with 150 individual and 29 relay starts – among them Fesenko.

A total of 37 of the 51 LEN Member Federations have entered competitors. This is a record number of nations participating in the European Masters Championships since its first edition in 1987.

Participants from 450 Clubs and 36 nations all over Europe have entered 4,614 individual and 259 relay starts in Swimming. In Open Water Swimming there are 334 entries from 28 LEN Member Federations. 31 participants from 8 nations will compete in Synchronized Swimming. Athletes from 17 nations – a total of 241 entries – entered for Diving from the 1m and 3m springboards, and 10m platform.

The Opening Ceremony will be held at Lenin Square in Yalta’s city centre, between the Lenin Memorial and the water front on the Black Sea, on September 4th at 19:00 hours.

For further information and results visit:

www.len.eu and www.yaltamasters2011.org

(August 30th, 2011) cosmos‐pps/ hp‐ns

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