Olympian Keri-anne Payne shares her triathlon swim tips

Swimming’s often the most daunting part of a triathlon – so who better to turn to for advice than two-time 10km open water world champion and Olympic silver medallist, Keri-anne Payne?

1: To keep a regular rhythm, breath out through the nose and in through the mouth. The key is to stay relaxed and only breath as much as you need not as much as you think you need.

How do I stop feeling out of breath when swimming front crawl?

2: To reduce your drag and keep your body in a straight line, look down and feel your legs come up behind you.

3: For efficient propulsion, move the water through the centre line of the body and feel like you’re pulling from your finger tips and feel like you are engaging your lats.

4: Don’t be scared to try open water skills such as sighting in the pool. It’s really easy to practice and will help ensure you’ve got them perfected come event day.

5: Lastly, don’t try and master everything at once – work on one thing at a time. Once you’ve mastered this, move on to the next thing (otherwise your brain might explode).

Want to read more? Keri-anne’s tips for Ironman swimming can be found here: Ironman swim tips from Keri-anne Payne.

Keri-anne Payne Olympic 10k swim silver medallist and swim coach

About

Keri-anne Payne is a South African-born British swimmer, specialising in marathon open-water swimming, and long-distance freestyle swimming in the pool. She's a two-time 10km open-water world champion, and an Olympic 10km open-water swim silver medallist. Keri-anne now passes on her passion for open-water swimming through tutoring coaches. The coaching technique she’s developed with her husband, triple Olympian David Carry, is all about empowering the swimmer to do it for themselves. Together they run Triscape, which hosts bespoke swimming retreats for swimmers of any level or ability.