Territorial dispute in swimming pool

No, we don't.
Please explain how a lane in a public session belongs to any one person.

That’s quite the leap. I was specifically talking about the fact that he purposely swam underneath a woman in a pool that had multiple empty lanes. We’ll have to disagree if you’re thinking that sounds like a good move.

No, you didn't shock me with your over dramatic language.

No. It’s a little more nuanced than that. But you’re right that we disagree. All good there.

Wow, semantics doing the heavy lifting here. If she did this as a reverse and she was the man we both know you’d happily be giving her a pasting still.

No mask, as the saying goes, it’s not all men but it’s usually men. We can love the men in our life but it doesn’t change the truth about our toxic society no matter how you might try with your twee little ‘off you goes’

Did I shock you with my word choice? Does ‘apologetically’ or ‘shuffle’ or ‘politely’ fit better? 🤷‍♀️

To be fair, I hated sharing the jacuzzi with random unknown men too, but I just avoided it when they were in, as opposed to complaining about their mere presence. I didn't mind sharing with those I did know. Since covid I've not really enjoyed health suites though (not due to covid, just me overthinking how minging they are).

Any chance he went swimming under the water with his eyes shut and popped up in a lane he wasn't expecting?

This reminds me of an older thread where a woman was absolutely furious that a man stayed in the jacuzzi for longer than she thought was acceptable. There was plenty of space for other people but she kept insisting he was selfish.

Totally agree but so many on here like …
he’s maybe short sighted/doesn’t understand lanes/likes company/
member of an underwater swimming club/a merman

or just a twat

This happens to me too! Couple of very aggressive male swimmers who seem to think the more noise and splashing they make the better they are!

We have graded lanes in our pool, 1 slow, 2 fast and 1 middle. Then we have 2 wider lanes which you can over take people in if needed.

Ive been swimming 2-3 times a week since February and the stuff people do keeps me amused for the 30 minutes I’m swimming. I never knew there was such human dynamics 😳

Had exactly the same when a woman got in the same lane as me,. complaining I was swimming too slow when there was 3 other lanes available.

Guess it's entitlement

I agree....knobish behaviour.
Particularly as he swam underneath you when there was no need.

Maybe the gentleman concerned was neuro divergent and trying to cope with a change in his plan?

I bet the bloke would be astounded this 'incident' (🙄) has hit 13 pages on Mumsnet. Like I said above he probably didn't even realise anything had happened.

If anything he probably thought he'd been graceful in moving lanes.

We need to find him get his point of view instead of all the clairvoyants on here 😂😂

i Find that club swimmers in public sessions DONT behave like this. But they do get pissed off if they’re rightly in the fast lane and some wannabe triathlete in baggy swim trunks gets in their lane. The best way to deal with people like this is to swim fast, don’t stop and make the point that they are in the way.

Don't worry.....I know my place.
I don't wear baggy swimming trunks and I am not a club swimmer. I am relatively new to swimming (I'm a runner really). I am keen and I do train for various personal challenges (an open water swim, a couple of sprint tris, the Serpentine swim next month) but I am not very fast - I'd say between the fast and middle lane speed.

I like to swim up and down without distraction. If the fast lane looks suitable then I will get in there. Suitable means maybe 3 or 4 other swimmers who are well able to accommodate different speeds if they abide by the lane rules. Sure someone might have to wait at the end for a few seconds but that's the nature of public swim sessions.

If a club swimmer jumps in and catches me up in the space of a single length and makes a point of me being in the way then it really pisses me off. Give me a chance to get to the end and duck under to the middle lane.

Please don't make this political

Public lane swimming isn't for 'training' though. Sounds like you're the issue.
HTH

But he swam under her because the OP herself said he suddenly saw her swimming directly at him so he went under and into a different lane.

I mean - he could have stayed put so she swam right into him.

That thread would be interesting 😉

See I wouldn’t give that headspace either!

Id just carry on with what I was doing - usually drinking a coffee with my kindle 😂

I think swimming under another swimmer in a lane in a swimming pool is either a bit aggressive or a bit showboaty. I wouldn't have liked that at all. The normal thing to do would be to wait a few seconds for OP to get out of the way. But I really hate lane swimming anyway (being too fast for the slow lane but slightly too slow for the medium lane) and it's one of the reasons why I swim outdoors as late in the year as I can.

Maybe. Or maybe it just confirmed it’s his preferred lane (just as it is hers) and once it was empty he moved back into it. Who knows 🤷🏼
Wonder if OP would move to her preferred lane if it later became free

If she’d said, “I was sitting on one of three empty benches in a park … man came sat in another bench for a minute then sat on same bench as me then went back to his first bench”, the nasty nature of his behaviour and old be far clearer to all. He’s a turd

Only because it confirmed what she thought; that he was trying to bustle her out of the lane she was in.