<p>This is just devastating news. My heart goes out to his family, friends and the entire swimming community.</p>
<p>PHILADELPHIA (AP)Fran Crippen, a medal-winning open-water swimmer on the U.S. national team, told his coach he wasnt feeling well late in a race before he died in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday.</p>
<p>The 26-year-old from a family of prominent swimmers in suburban Philadelphia was competing in the FINA Open Water 10-kilometer World Cup in Fujairah, south of Dubai, but failed to finish and was found in the water two hours later, according to Swimming World.</p>
<p>The magazine said the water temperature was in the mid- to high-80s, and several swimmers were treated for heat exhaustion after the race.</p>
<p>My daughter has done a lot of open water swimming, so this hits pretty close to home. I am not sure if the water temp had anything to do with this tragedy, but in my opinion, temps that high are dangerous. Several other swimmers were sent to the hospital for heat exhaustion. I hope they cancel the 15k.</p>
<p>Fishy, mine as well, she loved the ocean miles this summer. However, our Atlantic Ocean never gets anywhere near that level of warmth and our concerns are usually more with the coldness of the water and not heat. I do have to wonder if he didn’t feel well why he didn’t have a kayak following him, or at least someone keeping an eye out? I guess when your time comes it comes. I hope the family will get some answers as to why this happened, especially with all those other swimmers coming down the pike.</p>
<p>My older son just called from college pretty shaken up by it. Fran had posted on his FB page about his plans to go to Italy for some downtime after this meet. </p>
<p>My kids have swum when it is freezing cold and brutally hot and the worst they have ever felt was when the water was too warm. My thoughts and prayers are with the Crippen family.</p>