Alex Meyer (swimmer)

Last updated

Alex Meyer
Personal information
Full nameAlexander Meyer
Nickname(s)"Alex"
National teamFlag of the United States.svg  United States
Born (1988-07-05) July 5, 1988 (age 35)
Rochester, Minnesota, U.S.
Height5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight165 lb (75 kg)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes Freestyle
ClubCrimson Aquatics
College team Harvard University
Medal record
Men's swimming
Representing the United States
World Championships
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2015 Kazan 25 km
World Open Water Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2010 Roberval 25 km open water

Alexander Meyer (born July 5, 1988) is a former American competition swimmer who specialized in open water and long-distance swimming. He won a gold medal at the 2010 FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships in the 25-kilometer open water event. He was a member of the 2012 United States Olympic team, and placed tenth in the 10-kilometer open water event at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Alex won his final race before retirement, the 62nd Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean held on July 30, 2016. [1]

Contents

Early years

Meyer was born in Rochester, Minnesota. He has always been around the water ever since he was a baby, and started swimming competitively when he was 7 years old in Glens Falls, New York. Meyer and his family then moved to Ithaca, New York when he was 11. In Ithaca, Meyer swam for Ithaca Aquatics Club and joined the high school varsity team as a seventh grader. In high school, he was a four-time All-American swimmer and a two-time academic All-American. He won back-to-back New York state championships during his junior and senior years.

College career

Meyer attended Harvard University, where he majored in human evolutionary biology. At Harvard, he swam for the Harvard Crimson swimming team, and was a two-time All-Ivy League selection. He made two appearances at the NCAA Division I Championships. His second year, Meyer qualified for and competed in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, in both the 400-meter and 1,500-meter freestyle events. At the 2009 World Aquatics Championships, he was disqualified in the 25-kilometer event. [2] As a senior, Meyer was the Harvard men's team co-captain where he earned All-America honors with a 14th-place finish at the NCAA Division I Championships. That year, he also received the Harold S. Ulen Award as the career high-point swimmer, and the Phil Moriarty Award as the high-point swimmer at the Ivy League Championships.

International career

After graduation from Harvard, Meyer stayed in the Boston area and trained with Crimson Aquatics under Harvard men's swimming head coach Kevin Tyrrell. [3] The summer after graduation, he won his first international gold medal at the 2010 FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships in the 25 km. [4] [5] The following year, Meyer competed in the Open Water Grand Prix and World Cup events. In June 2011, he won gold again in the 10K U.S. Open Water Championships, giving him a bid to the 2011 10K Open Water World Championships in Shanghai, China. Meyer placed fourth in Shanghai, making him the first swimmer to qualify for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team. [6] 2016 winner of the prestigious and difficult "Traversée du Lac St.Jean" (Lac St. Jean) 32 km Fina Grand Prix race in Lac St. Jean in Roberval, Quebec Canada on his first ever participation with a time of 6h28m01s.

Personal

Meyer's parents were both swimmers. His father, Steve, was a swimmer and diver at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and his mother, Shawn, swam for the University of Georgia. He has one brother, Sam, who is a hockey player. Meyer is a fan of many different kinds of music, his favorites are jazz and blues. When he's not swimming, he enjoys playing the guitar and spending time outside, especially camping and boating with family and friends.

Meyer considers the most influential person in his open water career to be Fran Crippen. Crippen was a seasoned veteran in the sport when Meyer first made the U.S. Team, and the two became roommates when traveling and Crippen took him under his wing. Crippen died while they were both competing in an event in the United Arab Emirates. Meyer uses Crippen's memory as inspiration in training and competition. Recently when asked about being the only men's open water swimmer to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Team, Meyer replied, "I like [U.S. teammate] Sean Ryan a lot, and I was hoping he would make the team with me. He's such a great swimmer and a great person. But then after some time passed, I realized that spot had to be unfilled, because that is Fran Crippen's spot. That is something Fran and I talked about a lot. We dreamed of it together, being Olympic teammates in London. So no offense to Sean or anyone else, but I'm not going to London alone. Fran's going with me, and we're going to represent our country, our schools, our family and friends, and we are going to give it our best."

At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Meyer placed tenth in the 10-kilometer marathon event with a time of 1:50:48.2, 53 seconds behind winner Oussama Mellouli over the 6.2-mile distance.

Awards and results

2012 London Olympics

Open Water World Championships

U.S. Open Water National Championships

Olympic Trials

U.S. National Championships

NCAA Championships

High School

See also

Related Research Articles

Francis Crippen was an American long-distance swimmer. After being a pool swimmer for most of his career, Crippen made the transition to open water swimming in 2006. In international competitions, Crippen won seven medals, five of which were in the open water and two in the pool. Crippen died during an open water swimming race in the United Arab Emirates in 2010 at the age of 26.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maddy Crippen</span> American swimmer (born 1980)

Madeleine Marie Crippen, also known by her married name as Madeleine Plankey, is an American former competition swimmer. Crippen represented the United States at the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Erica Lara Rose was an American competition swimmer who specialized in long-distance and open water events. Rose was a 5 km World Aquatics champion in Perth, Australia at only fifteen in 1998, was a four-time Pan American swim marathon gold medalist, a Pan Pacific 3.1 mile champion in 1997 in Melbourne, Australia, and a ten-time National Open Water swim marathon champion at 5 km, 10 km, and 25 km distances between 1997-2007. She competed with Cleveland's Lake Erie Silver Dolphins, Hawken High School Swim Team, the Northwestern University Swim Team, and for twelve years with the USA Swimming National Team.

The FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships, or more commonly "Open Water Worlds", was a bi-annual FINA championship for open water swimming held in even years from 2000 to 2010, inclusive. Race distances were 5, 10, and 25 kilometers.

Sean Ryan is an American competition swimmer who specializes in long-distance and open-water freestyle events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chloe Sutton</span> American swimmer

Chloe Elizabeth Sutton Mackey is an American competition swimmer who specializes in freestyle and long-distance events. Sutton represented the United States at two consecutive Olympic Games. Sutton has won a total of five medals in major international competition, three gold, one silver, and one bronze spanning the Open Water Championships, Pan Pacific Championships, and Pan American Games. She was a member of the 2012 United States Olympic team, and competed in the 400-meter freestyle at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

The FINA Marathon Swim World Series, known as the 10 km Marathon Swimming World Cup until 2017, is a series of 10-kilometer, open water swimming races held annually since 2007. Prior to 2007, 10K races were held as part of the FINA's Open Water Grand Prix series; post split, this latter series is now for races over 10 kilometers in length. Prizes and points are awarded for each race in the series, with the points being added together for an overall point standing.

Haley Danita Anderson is an American competitive swimmer who is an Olympic silver medalist. She placed second in the 10-kilometer open water event at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

The men's 10K race at the 2009 World Championships occurred on Wednesday, July 22 at Ostia Beach in Rome, Italy. In total, 48 males from 27 countries were entered in the race.

Andrew Douglas Gemmell is an American competition swimmer who specialized in long-distance freestyle events. He swam for the University of Georgia, helping then to place 5th in the NCAA in 2014, and was a member of the 2012 United States Olympic Team, where he competed in the 1,500-meter freestyle event at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. At the Olympics, he finished ninth with a time of 14:59:05, missing the semi-finals by one place. He took several distance swimming medals, with a gold at the 5 km team event in the 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai, and took medals at the Pan Pacific Championships in 2014 and the Pan American Games in 2015 in the 1500 m, 5 km and 10 km events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eva Fabian</span> American-Israeli open water swimmer (born 1993)

Eva Fabian is an American-Israeli open water swimmer. She was the 2010 world champion in the 5-kilometer swim, and won a gold medal at the 2015 Pan American Games in the women's 10k.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ana Marcela Cunha</span> Brazilian swimmer

Ana Marcela Jesus Soares da Cunha is a Brazilian swimmer who specializes in the open water swimming marathon. She is considered one of the best open water swimmers in history, having obtained 14 medals in FINA World Aquatics Championships. She has also received FINA’s Female World Open Water Swimmer Of The Year award six times. Her countless achievements are comparable only to those of Larisa Ilchenko, another multi-medalist in World Championships.

Chad Ho is a South African open water swimmer, who specialises in 10 km and 5 km marathon swimming. Educated at Westville Boys' High School, he is considered one of the fastest professional open water swimmers in the world, having won the overall series title at the 2010 FINA World Cup and attended the Olympic Game's twice - 2008 and 2016. He is also currently a seven-time titleholder of the Midmar Mile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evgeny Drattsev</span> Russian swimmer

Yevgeny Yuryevich Drattsev is a Russian swimmer, who specialized in open water marathon. He is considered one of the fastest professional open water swimmers in the world, finishing near the top of FINA World Cup races for the 10 km marathon. He also won two medals for the 5 and 10 km open water marathon at the 2007 FINA World Championships in Melbourne, Australia.

Ashley Grace Twichell is an American competition swimmer who specializes in long-distance freestyle and open-water events. She placed seventh in the 10 kilometer open water swim at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Twichell's age at her Olympic Games debut, 32 years of age, made her the oldest American swimmer first-timer at an Olympic Games since 1908.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships</span> Sporting event delegation

United States competed at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships in Kazan, Russia from 24 July to 9 August 2015.

Jade Dusablon is a Canadian long-distance swimmer from Quebec City, Quebec. Dusablon won a gold medal in the women's open water 5 km swim at the Fran Crippen Cup. She finished 4th at the 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships. She won a silver medal in the 10 km event at the 2011 FINA World Cup in Lac Mégantic and added a 10 km silver in 2013 at the World Cup in Lac St-Jean.

Jordan Matthew Wilimovsky is an American competitive swimmer who specializes in open water swimming. At the 2015 World Championships in Kazan, Russia, Wilimovsky won the gold medal in the 10 km open water event. Wilimovsky won by a margin of 12.1 seconds over the second-place finisher Ferry Weertman of the Netherlands. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Wilimovsky competed in both pool swimming and open water swimming events, becoming the first American to swim in both types of events at one Olympic Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Florian Wellbrock</span> German swimmer

Florian Wellbrock is a German swimmer. He is the world record holder in the short course 1500 metre freestyle. He won gold medals in the 10 kilometre open water swim and 1500 metre freestyle at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships. At the 2020 Summer Olympics he won the gold medal in the 10 kilometre open water swim and the bronze medal in the 1500 metre freestyle. In December 2021, he won a gold medal in the 1500 metre freestyle at the 2021 World Short Course Championships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katie Grimes</span> American swimmer

Kathryn Eileen Grimes is an American competitive swimmer. At the 2022 World Aquatics Championships, she won silver medals in the 1500 meter freestyle and the 400 meter individual medley. She placed fourth in the 800 meter freestyle at the 2020 Summer Olympics, where she was the youngest member of the US Olympic Team at 15 years of age.

References

  1. ↑ "2015 World C'ships 25k Silver Medalist Alex Meyer Confirms Retirement". Swim Swam. August 5, 2016. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  2. ↑ "2009 World Aquatics Championships: Men's 25 km" (PDF). Omega Timing. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 6, 2009. Retrieved July 22, 2010.
  3. ↑ "Alex Meyer Plans to Continue Training at Harvard After Coach Takes Penn State Job". August 14, 2013.
  4. ↑ "2010 FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships: Men's 25 km" (PDF). Powerhouse Timing. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 3, 2016. Retrieved July 22, 2010.
  5. ↑ "World Open Water Championships: Alex Meyer of the U.S., Linsy Heister of The Netherlands Win 25Ks". Swimming World Magazine. July 22, 2010. Archived from the original on August 19, 2012. Retrieved July 22, 2010.
  6. ↑ 2011 World Aquatics Championships: Men's 10 km results, from OmegaTiming.com; retrieved 2011-07-20.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.