LEADVILLE- For the third time in less than two years, swim coach Paulus Wildeboer has brought his team of European swimmers back to the high elevation water of the Lake County Aquatics Center.
"There are only a few pools in the world at this elevation. It's very rare to find something like that," Wildeboer said.
Training here means pushing your body at 10,400 feet which he says gives his team an edge when they head back to lower elevations
"We are now sleeping a week before we get here in hyperbaric tents, and we build the altitude up progressively to help them adapt faster here then when we come up here. After altitude training, they keep sleeping in the tents so they train at sea level and sleep at altitude until close to the competition. Then 10 days before the competition, we take them out of the tents," Wildeboer said.
He says the program can make or break you in a tight competition year like this one, with the 2012 Summer Olympics less than a year away in London.
"With the Olympics coming up and with the a few talented swimmers with the chance to medal, you have to do anything, in my opinion, you can do to get a little advantage," said Wildeboer.
It's a program that seems to be working with his swimmers making waves. Olympic bronze medalist Lottie Friis, a swimmer for the Danish swim team, just won gold at the World Championships, crushing the competition in 1500 meter.
"I won 1,500 meters by six seconds and second in the 800 by this much," Friis said.
Training in Leadville is a lot work. Athletes spend two to four hours a day in the pool, and do hours of dry-land workouts. They also have gotten the chance to get out and have fun with community members, taking the swimmers on tours, train rides, hikes, shopping and they have even gotten the chance to go to a shooting range.
"In Denmark you are not allowed to have guns, so I think it was a great experience for all of us," Friis said.
Despite all the fun, the focus is to become faster and better swimmers. It's why Coach Wildeboer keeps coming back.
"So they can train more intensive at sea level and at the same time because of the tents. I try to keep the advantage of the altitude of training," Wildeboer said.
Hoping in the water of this old mining town, they'll find a little gold of their own.
The Lake County Aquatic Center will host a reception with those swimmers Sunday Oct. 2 at 5:45 p.m., inviting the public to watch the world champions and Olympians swim and then talk with them afterwards.
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