Canada's Richard Weinberger celebrates his bronze medal for Men's Marathon Swimming at the Olympic Games in London.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
Becoming more responsible out of the water is making Richard Weinberger a better swimmer.
Weinberger qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics on Monday with an eighth-place finish in the men's 10-kilometre open-water marathon at the FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia. Although the Canadian Olympic Committee still has to officially nominate him, Weinberger is the only swimmer that Canada might use for the event in Brazil.
"The goal here was to place top 10 and make the Olympic team and nothing else," Weinberger said in a phone interview from Kazan. "Eighth place is as good as gold for me right now."
American Jordan Wilimovsky won with a time of 1 hour 49 minutes 48.2 seconds, well ahead of a photo finish for second place. Ferry Weertman of the Netherlands (1:50:00.3) earned the silver, while Greece's Spyridon Gianniotis, the defending world champion, took bronze in 1:50:00.7.
Weinberger, from Surrey, B.C., was about 15th in the 70-man race, but he sped up his pace with a kilometre to go to crack the top 10 in a time of 1:50:19.9. Victoria's Eric Hedlin came 56th at 1:56:52.3.
The bronze medalist at the 2012 London Olympics switched coaches in February, 2014, moving from Swimming Canada's high-performance centre in Victoria to its training facility in Vancouver. Coming under the guidance of Tom Johnson in Vancouver meant more responsibilities for Weinberger out of the water, including arranging all of his own appointments with nutritionists, physiotherapists and sport psychologists.
That self-sufficiency has changed Weinberger's approach to competition.
"I feel a lot more confident that I'm doing all this stuff on my own," Weinberger said. "It's under Tom's supervision, of course, but he just guides me; he doesn't do anything for me. I think that's what's given me my confidence back and has helped me compete at a world level again."
Living in Vancouver has also meant that Weinberger has to manage his money more carefully, as rent, food and the cost of living in general is higher than in Victoria.
"Canadian athletes, we're pretty much playing Moneyball here against the Americans and other countries," Weinberger said, referring to the book by financial journalist Michael Lewis on creating efficiencies in sports management. "We don't get as much funding as these other countries in swimming and we're still posting results and we're still coming out on top over these highly funded athletes that get more than us.
"I'm really proud to be a Canadian athlete and to be part of a team that, you know, we don't need as much money to compete at a world level."
Weinberger's top-10 finish on Monday secured Canada its one and only berth for the men's open water 10-km swim at the Rio Games. Canada may not compete in the final remaining qualifier and Weinberger is the only athlete Canada can send to compete in the event at the 2016 Olympics.
The world championships came 15 days after Weinberger finished fourth in open water swimming at the Toronto Pan American Games. The 25-year-old swimmer says he prefers having events run close together because it helps him prepare mentally.
"Before the London Olympics I had a World Cup in Lac St-Jean-Roberval, Que., two weeks out of my London race," Weinberger said. "I felt like it helped me get a feel for the race and how to use my energy properly and it gave me a sense of how to push when I need to push, how to reserve energy when I need to reserve and just get a feel for the open water race itself.
"It keeps it really strong in my memory."
The women's 10-km race will take place on the same course Tuesday morning. Samantha Harding of Brandon, Man., and Quebec City's Jade Dusablon will be in action after finishing 18th and 22nd in the five-km race Saturday. Both are competing in their first world championships.