This article has been updated since initial posting earlier in the day in light of developing events and reports

In wake of the tragic death of  Fran Crippen (USA) in the last leg of the FINA 10km Marathon Swimming World Cup 2010 yesterday in  Fujairah (UAE), and "in respect for his memory", a FINA statement says today, the international federation has cancelled the 10th and final leg (15km) of the FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix 2010, scheduled for Wednesday in Fujairah.

The cause of the American's death - first reports suggest that Crippen suffered a fatal heart attack - is the subject of investigation but the open water swimming community seems pretty certain that race conditions and organisation of the meet on the day played a part in the tragedy.

The day after the swimmer's death sources in the UAE have told SwimNews that swimmers did not feel it appropriate to have held the race in the prevailing conditions: while reports suggest that the water temperature was 30C, some swimmers have reported their belief that it was "more like 40" at the surface level in which they were swimming. "There was no shadow and the conditions for a 10km race were too harsh," said one of those in the race. Athletes are now considering representation to FINA to call for "a more professional way" of running their sport.

Crippen, who was said to have been in excellent health and "really fit" this season, died after collapsing during the race. He was not alone in having trouble. Three others were hospitalised, according to sources in UAE, including two Americans and a Brazilian, all women.

Among e-mails sent in by swimmers and others involved in Saturday's race were accusations that there was a lack of sufficient numbers of guide boats to monitor all swimmers in the race. FINA rules place responsibility with the referee, safety and medical officers for race conditions. There must be “sufficient powered safety craft are available...to provide full safety backup to the escort safety craft", while the medical officer must advise the referee if conditions are unsuitable for racing. 

Swimmers in touch with SwimNews from Fujairah said that at least some had complained about hot water but that no warnings had been heeded. On the last of five laps, Crippen was said to have been seen to be struggling. But by the end it was left to swimmers, not organisers, to raise the alert when Crippen did not finish, according to swimmers at the scene who dived back in to help with the search. Fran Crippen's body was found about two hours later. If the death is shocking, the fact that the swimmer went missing is something that organisers will most surely require complete official explanation given in the forum of formal, public inquiry. 

Winner of world championship bronze medals over 10km in 2009 and 5km this year, Crippen is the first swimmer ever to die in an open water race held under the auspices of FINA since the international federation took the sport under its umbrella in the 1980s. A postmortem report is due as investigations, medical and in the realms of sports governance, into his death continue. Those investigations will help to determine whether the swimmer died because of the race he was in.

The US federation have sent experienced coach Jack Roach to serve as Crippen's honour transport home for burial. 

Meanwhile, FINA has strict rules for pool racing (for events between 50m and 1,500m in length) that decree water temperatures cannot be less than 26C nor warmer than 28C. A minimum of 16C exists in open water but there is no maximum limit for a sport that includes the 10km event that joined the Olympic programme in Beijing in 2008. At the world championships in Roberval Canada in July, when Crippen won bronze over 5km, many swimmers complained about waters that fell below 16C, according to some reports. 

The world's No 1 open water swimmer, Thomas Lurz, of Germany, was among those who felt that conditions were unsuitable for world-class racing. He said: "In my experience having water that's too hot is the same danger as when its too cold water. My hands were swollen very much and not only mine ... my teammates hands, Jan Wolfgarten's were swollen too."

Lurz believes that, out of respect for but also regardless of the findings into cause of death relating to Crippen, FINA ought to consider urgent rule changes for open water: "There must be a temperature limit like in the pool. I am also the opinion that 16 is too cold. We had swimmers in Canada [Roberval world championships] who went to hospital after being pulled out of the water ... one of the swimmers has a body temperature of 31!" Lurz suggested that world-class racing should not take place in temperatures outside a range of 18C to 27C.

Among symptoms of heat exhaustion are rapid heartbeat, elevated or lowered blood pressure, confusion and disorientation, seizure, fainting and ultimately heart failure, medical research has long held.

Lurz added: "Fran was a great athlete. He was really fit, one of the best, so what happened to him could happen to anyone of us. Nobody knows exactly how the body reacts under such conditions."

Sources who did not wish to be named called for a "more professional future for open water swimming". In Fujairah, "there were not enough security boats", claimed one world-class swimmer, while sources said that there had been problems throughout the whole FINA circuit, swimmers listing "too cold, too dirty, too hot, no good hotels, no training pools" (in Hong Kong swimmers had to prepare by swimming with the public in municipal pools for the last three days before racing) in a catalogue of complaints that if true are hardly befitting of an Olympic sport.

Pending the results of investigations, Crippen, many of his peers believe, may have paid the ultimate price for having been the great competitor he was. The American needed to finish the UAE race in order to finish among the best three in the overall 10km grand prix rankings. Swimmers need to race in six out of eight races, while a requirement of all who want a final grand prix ranking is that they must finish the last race of the circuit. "Fran was close to winning the overall rankings and even if he had swum badly he would be for sure of second place" ... as long as he finished the race.

Crippen's coach at Germantown Academy, Richard Shoulberg, visited the family home in Conshohocken on Saturday to break the news. He told the Philadelphia Inquirer: "My sixth sense tells me that he probably didn't realise he was in trouble, and probably just pushed harder. He would swim through pain every day in training. He just wanted to be an Olympian. The irony is he was very, very concerned about the safety of kids in pools. He was caring and loving and loved the sport, loved the pool."

Crippen's mother, Patricia, told the paper that she had dropped her son off at Philadelphia International Airport on Tuesday with an admonishment to avoid tourist spots in Europe after his meet because of the terrorism alerts. "He was the love of our lives," she said. "He was just so full of life and enjoyed life so much."

Crippen's last post on his own website is a haunting one: 

"The season is almost over and its been going very well. I just returned from a tough stretch where me and some of my team mates did three races in two weeks. We started off in Shantou China, then went to Hong Kong, and then finally raced in Cancun. It was a great experience and we definitely had a lot of fun along the way. We have one weekend off and then have our final race of the season on Oct. 23rd in Dubai. I have been racing pretty well, getting 2nd in China, 3rd in Hong Kong, and then winning in Cancun. Im really excited for the final race and am really looking forward to a vacation! After Dubai my girlfriend and I will be heading to Rome, Capri, Venice, and Paris - I can’t wait!"

The autopsy of a swimmer who will be much missed will help to confirm whether race conditions in hot waters contributed to his death. If they do, then the early comments of swimmers and others in the United Arab Emirates this past weekend will surely become all the more poignant.

Dr Julio Maglione, President of FINA, confirmed to reporters that it was the first death in any FINA event, and that the federation had opened an investigation. He added that race organisers had done nothing wrong. 

The judge of that, of course, must wait until the verdict is in on the question posed by those swimmers referred to in this article: did the race cause the death of their fellow competitor?

"All was under strict rules that exist in our competition. All was absolutely correct," he said. "It was an accident, a terrible accident." Too early to say, perhaps, especially with an inquiry pending.

An accident to miss a swimmer in the water, some are already asking. An accident that swimmers, not officials, raised the alarm, some are already suggesting. An accident, perhaps, that there were no officials on hand trained to know when something requires someone beyond the athlete to say "enough" (as happens in other punishing sports) and would have been able to intervene when Crippen was complaining about feeling unwell, as reports suggest. 

Some swimmers are already saying that the accident was to let the race proceed in water temperatures that anyone who has ever swum competitively and trained for that knows are a potential hazard to health.