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Inaugural Open Water Olympic Qualifier in SevilleThe 2008 Beijing Olympic Games welcomes a new sport to the Olympic roster, the endurance scrimmage known as Open Water swimming. Open Water swimmers must apply skill and stamina as they hope to win an Olympic medal in the premiere 10k distance swimming event. The equipment to be worn by the Top American qualifiers is the Open Water specific Tracer swimsuit technology. Described by some as the aquatic equivalent to wrestling combined with a marathon race, the Open Water competition demands courage, experience, and above all endurance. The Top American qualifiers, Micha Burden and Mark Warkentin embody these characteristics, and more. Sponsored by TYR, both swimmers will compete at the 2008 World Championship in Seville, Spain on May 3 and May 4 - for an Olympic berth and for the honor of representing the United States in the first Olympic Open Water competition. From the World Championship’s field of international swimmers, the top ten will automatically transfer to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. "What happens at the start, in the turns, at feeding stations and especially during the last 100 meters will determine who will go on to the Beijing Olympic Games. While the men will complete their event in about two hours, the women's race will run slightly longer. During that entire time - everyone is looking for an advantage - so it's a mental and physical endurance test,” said Team USA Open Water Head Coach, Bill Rose. Burden and Warkentin will use more than their physical prowess to beat the intense international competition they will face at World Championship in Seville and Beijing. They will wear the Open Water specific Tracer swimsuit technology from TYR, customized exclusively for the open water endurance race and designed to perform. TYR Tracer advances the boundaries of what a technical swimsuit can do for performance. By examining muscular and anatomical structure, TYR designed Tracer Light and Tracer Rise to fit with precision over the world’s most elegant form – the human body. Working hand-in-hand with top caliber athletes, TYR has developed the first performance swimsuit with compression panels that addresses muscle oxygenation, cadenced muscle responsiveness, muscle core and energy return systems. This one-of-a-kind racing discovery focuses on the swimmer’s most aggressive and active muscle groups to offset fatigue. The compression panels additionally streamline the body, thereby lowering drag. In an intensive open water distance race, Tracer’s compression panels help combat water friction, pressure and wave drag. Its endurance-engineered compression panels cover the body’s most powerful muscle structures. The effect reduces drag created by the motion of the legs and limits muscle fatigue, an important asset in the later stages of a more than two-hour race. TYR Tracer open water elite technology is the only swimsuit designed with Energy Pockets used to store replenishing fuel for swimmers. Wearing TYR Tracer, Mark Warkentin and Micha Burden won the 2007 Open Water Championship Trials earning the distinction of the top American Qualifiers for the World Championship in Seville. They proved that in a grueling 10k race, TYR Tracer maintains its advanced performance benefits. “Our American team is well positioned to make a strong showing in the first ever Olympic Open Water event. This demanding competition is one of the most mentally and physically taxing race an athlete can endure. I am confident that our athletes have the mental and physical fortitude to qualify for the Beijing Olympic Games and they have been provided with the best swimsuit technology to complement their unique discipline and skill,” said Coach Bill Rose.
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