Lara Heinz

Lara Heinz
Personal information
Nationality  Luxembourg
Born 27 May 1981
Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
Height 1.74 m (5 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Weight 66 kg (146 lb)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes Freestyle
Club SSF Bonn 1905

Lara Heinz (born May 27, 1981 in Luxembourg City) is a retired Luxembourgian swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle events.[1] She is a two-time national record holder for both the long and short course freestyle (50 and 100 m).

Heinz made her official debut, as a 19-year-old, at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where she served as Luxembourg's flag bearer in the opening ceremony. In the 100 m freestyle, Heinz touched out Thailand's Pilin Tachakittiranan to take the fourth spot in heat three by 0.14 of a second with a time of 58.55 seconds.[2] In her second event, 50 m freestyle, Heinz challenged seven other swimmers on the sixth heat, including four-time Olympian Mette Jacobsen of Denmark, Rania Elwani of Egypt (who later became an IOC member), and Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe (who later claimed backstroke titles in 2004 and 2008). She snared the fifth spot by two hundredths of a second ahead of Fiji's Caroline Pickering in 26.55 seconds. Heinz failed to qualify for the semifinals, as she placed thirty-fourth overall in the preliminary heats.[3]

Four years later, Heinz qualified for her second Luxembourgian team, as a 23-year-old, at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. She attained B-standard entry times of 26.41 (50 m freestyle) and 57.14 (100 m freestyle) from the European Long Course Meet in Luxembourg.[4][5][6] In the 100 m freestyle, Heinz edged out Hungary's Ágnes Mutina to take the fifth spot in heat three and thirty-sixth overall by 0.70 of a second, with a time of 57.40.[7] In the 50 m freestyle, Heinz touched out Iceland's Ragnheiður Ragnarsdóttir to a fifth-heat triumph by a single hundredth margin (0.01), breaking a Luxembourgian record of 26.35 seconds. Her storming victory was not insufficiently enough to put her through the semifinals, as Heinz placed thirtieth out of 75 swimmers in the morning preliminaries.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "Lara Heinz". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
  2. ↑ "Sydney 2000: Swimming – Women's 100m Freestyle Heat 3" (PDF). Sydney 2000. LA84 Foundation. p. 175. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
  3. ↑ "Sydney 2000: Swimming – Women's 50m Freestyle Heat 5" (PDF). Sydney 2000. LA84 Foundation. p. 165. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
  4. ↑ "Swimming – Women's 50m Freestyle Startlist (Heat 6)" (PDF). Athens 2004. Omega Timing. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  5. ↑ "Swimming – Women's 100m Freestyle Startlist (Heat 3)" (PDF). Athens 2004. Omega Timing. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  6. ↑ "Curl-Burke's Liscinsky Scores at Euro Meet in Luxembourg". Swimming World Magazine. 25 January 2004. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  7. ↑ "Women's 100m Freestyle Heat 3". Athens 2004. BBC Sport. 18 August 2004. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  8. ↑ "Women's 50m Freestyle Heat 5". Athens 2004. BBC Sport. 19 August 2004. Retrieved 31 January 2013.