July Swimmers of the Month and Open Water Awards

As July winds down and the swimming-huge month of August approaches, I want to give my usual swimmer-of-the-month recognition. I will be giving out the awards for the typical categories of American, European, and Pacific Rim, as well as some special Open Water awards.

American women's: Kara Lynn Joyce, United States

Swept the sprints at the L.A. Grand Prix with solid benchmark times of 25.09 and 54.68 headed into Nationals.

American men's: TIE - Cesar Cielo, Brazil and Nathan Adrian, United States

Both continue their sprint dominance, Cielo with times of 21.73 and 48.99 at the Athens Sectionals, while Adrian clocked 22.11 and 48.71 at the L.A. Grand Prix.

European women's: Katinka Hosszu, Hungary

Posted fast times of 2:12.25 and 4:34.68 in the 200 and 400 IM at the L.A. Grand Prix

European men's: Yannick Agnel, France

Dominated the 100, 200, and 400 free at the European Junior Champs, with times of 48.80, 1:46.58, and 3:46.28, as well as relay splits of 48.80 and 1:46.48; winning the award for the third consecutive month

Runners-up: Alexander Dale Oen, Norway and Bence Bizco, Hungary

Pacific Rim women's: Emily Seebohm, Australia

Won four events at the Australian Short Course Championships: 100 back (56.58), 100 free (53.16), 100 IM (59.29), and 200 IM (2:07.64), setting Australian records in the 100 back and 200 IM.

Pacific Rim men's: Matthew Abood, Australia

Swam fast times in the 50 (21.75 short course, 22.77 long course) and 100 free (47.07 short course, 49.18 long course, 48.50 long course relay split) at the Australian Short Course Championships and Canadian Nationals.

Open Water awards

Nation: Italy

Improved from 1 gold, 3 bronze in 2009 to 2 gold, 3 silver in 2010, including a sweep of the Olympic distance 10k races

Female Swimmer of the Meet: Martina Grimaldi, Italy

Won the 10k, improving from a bronze medal in 2009, and would have contended in the 25k, but was DQ'ed for touching the feeding station

Male Swimmer of the Meet: Valerio Cleri, Italy

Improved from fourth to first in the 10k and barely failed to defend his 25k title

Break-out star: Eva Fabian, United States

Won gold in the 5k and would have medaled in the 10k before disqualification after a collision; definitely someone the U.S. is happy to have on the team

Giving shout-outs to the rest of the American team: Fran Crippen, Chip Peterson, Christine Jennings, Alex Meyer, Joe Kinderwater, Haley Anderson, and Emily Hanson. All finished in the top ten except for Peterson in the 5k. Meyer won gold in the 25k, narrowly defeating Cleri in a five hour-long duel, while Crippen took a bronze in the 5k and a close fourth in the 10k. Notably, Anderson and Kinderwater competed in their first 25k races and each did an outstanding job, Anderson finishing fourth and Kinderwater seventh.