Alex Meyer, of Ithaca, will compete in the London Olympics for the United States this week in the 10K open water swim. Meyer is not only a former New York state open water swimming champion and 2011 national champion – he is also a former winner of the SkanRaces “Escape from the Judge” event on Skaneateles Lake.

Meyer won the Escape swim in 2005 at age 17 and in 2006 at age 18.

Chris Legg, director of SkanRaces.com Labor Day race events, said he remembers speaking to Meyer after he won the 2006 race. “I congratulated him for winning again and asked about his future plans. He said that he was on his way to swim for Harvard,” Legg said. “Now we know that the path to the Summer Olympics goes through Skaneateles!”

“Undoubtedly, the open water 10km marathon will take a new position on the world stage at the London 2012 Olympics. The event will set new standards for elite open water swimming on a number of fronts,” according to the website swimswam.com.

Meyer will swim at noon London time on Friday Aug. 10. NBC will broadcast on their website live, as will the BBC.

For more information on Alex Meyer, visit alexmeyerswimming.com.

Jason Emerson is editor of the Skaneateles Press. He can be reached at [email protected].