A US swimmer has said inadequate safety regulations and unusually warm waters are to blame for the death of fellow American open water champion Fran Crippen in Fujairah on the weekend.
Christine Jennings, who also took part in the UAE World Cup race, told the Washington Post she vomited several times in the water and signalled for help, but never received any.
Crippen, 26, died while competing in the last leg of the 10km Marathon Swimming World Cup in Fujairah on Saturday.
“It was a disaster,” she told the paper. “I’m floating on my back for several minutes, thinking ‘Why isn’t anybody checking on me?’”
“FINA needs to understand what happened and not brush this off as some freak incident, which it wasn’t,” Jennings was quoted as saying. “They need to make changes. They signed off on this race. . . . There are a lot of questions I want to ask.”
Official swimming association FINA has launched an investigation into Crippen’s death. Meanwhile USA Swimming has also announced it will launch it’s own full, independent inquiry.
“The investigation will be conducted independently of the FINA investigation. FINA is the international governing body for swimming that sanctioned Saturday’s race,” a statement on the organisation’s website said.
“USA Swimming’s investigation will examine exactly what happened to Crippen, why it happened and what can be learned to keep such an incident from happening again,” the statement said.
Chuck Wielgus, executive director of USA Swimming, said: “What happened in Fujairah on Saturday is an absolute tragedy, and a thorough investigation must be conducted to provide clear answers to the Crippen family and swimming community, as well as to identify and establish clear guidelines by which all international competitions should be conducted.”
Cripped was an experienced open water swimmer, winning bronze at the 10km event at the 2009 World Championships in Rome. He was also four-times US open swimming champion, according to his personal website.
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