Twenty countries participated on the competitions of the 2010 European Finswimming Championship officially inaugurated by CMAS Vice President Iván Nyíri in the recently opened Olympic size swimming pool of Kazan. On the Championship - the first time in CMAS history, - races in sport diving and aquathlon were as well held.
Some might not know, Kazan is the capital city of the Republic of Tatarstan-Russia and is the eighth largest city in the entire country. It lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in the European part of Russia. The Kazan Kremlin is a World Heritage Site and in April 2009 the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the right to brand itself as the "Third Capital" of Russia. In 2009 it was chosen as the "Sports Capital of Russia" and in 2013 it will host the University Games.
Finswimming and Sport diving Championships took place in the swimming pool built for the 2013 Universiade, long distance in the Volga river. During the competitions the weather, - as elsewhere in European Russia - was abnormal in Tatarstan with temperatures over 40 C. It did not however stop athletes to beat 7 world records. A total of 143 swimmers took part at the event with convincing individual records and results. Races in Long Distance were particularly difficult for the athletes as water temperature were above 28° C.
All in all ten World and European records were broken, the first being done by the Hungarian swimmer Szilárd Vilhelm, who on 800 meters immersion improved the old World Record by almost 5 seconds, to a fantastic time of 5’ 46” 96. As in the new pool he managed to make the first World Record, on the 31st July, - in the presence of the Deputy Minister of Sports of Tatarstan and several government dignitaries, - his photo and name was put on the wall of the pool. Great honor for CMAS as well, that our athlete’s name will remain on the wall of one of the four official swimming pools, built recently for the 2013 Universiade.
Athletes enjoyed the warm hospitality of the Russian Underwater Federation and the friendly welcome of the sport authorities of Kazan.
