SWIMMING.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 137, 22 March 1935, Page 2

SWIMMING.

NEW SOUTH WALES CHAMPION- ‘ SHIPS. MISS LEYDON WINS 880 YARDS. SYDNEY, March 21. The women’s swimming championship carnival concluded at Coogee baths to-night. The chief event, the 880 yards championship of New South

Wales vwas won by the New Zealander, Miss Mona Leydon, with; Miss Marion Oockburn second, and 1 Miss Hazel! Wagner third. Miss Leydon won by 25 yards. The time was 12min 35 3-5 sec. Miss Leydon also competed in a heat of the 100 yards race, in which she finished third. TARiS’S STYLE. CONSIDERED UNORTHODOX. The style of the French swimmer, Jean Taris, was carefully analysed during his tour in New Zealand. It had been described as unorthodox, and, although unusual in some respects, it embodied several good points. His recovery of the arms in a wide, fairly high swing was not generally approved, but it was his under-water work that yielded useful lessons. Making a short catch, he slid the arms forward to their full reach, transferred the weight of the shoulders upon them without twisting the body, and finished with a long, deliberate drive. The action of the legs he had developed to extraordinary adeptness yet their function was inferior to that of the arms, being correctly an aid to body balance. When .the kick was accentuated by slow action, it was observed that all momentum was obtained by the upward thrust of the feet, these doing a perfect fish-tail beat, a rotating movement with an upward flick from the ankles.