The big sandwich meet on the international schedule, surrounded by USA Swimming Winter Nationals and the Duel in the Pool, are the European Short Course Championships that will be held in Szczecin, Poland from December 8th to 11th.
All entries have been submitted but start lists haven’t been released yet; several of the major competitors have begun to announce their lineups for the meet. The headliners are the Germans, who are sending all of their big guns including Paul Biedermann and Britta Steffen. Steffen is coming off of a strong German National Championship meet last week where she posted a World best in the 100 free in 52.00.
The French roster is severely toned down from its top contingent, with most of its big-name swimmers training and competing in the United States. This, however, will allow 2011 European Junior Champ Charlotte Bonnet to finally step into the senior spotlight. The men’s program, which has great depth, will still be left with two of their stars, Hugues Duboscq and the 100 SCM freestyle World Record holder Amaury Leveaux, to lead the way.
The Swiss, led by the country’s superstar Dominik Meichtry, but don’t overlook Flori Lang either, who is a sprinter extraordinaire.
The hosts, Poland, have also announced their entries. Atop their entry list are Konrad Czerniak and Mateusz Sawrymowic with a lot of great young teenage talent in attendance as well.
Germany
Women:
Dorothea Brandt
Britta Steffen
Daniela Schreiber
Theresa Michalak
Silke Lippok
Jenny Mensing
Isabelle Harle
Daniela Götz
Franziska Hentke
Paulina Schmiedel
Doris Eichhorn
Men:
Steffen Deibler
Markus Deibler
Tim Walberger
Robin Backhaus
Tom Siara
Yannick Lebherz
Marco Koch
Paul Biedermann
Christian Kubusch
Stefan Herbst
Christian Diener
Eric Steinhagen
Jan-Philip Glania
France
Women:
Charlotte Bonnet
Justine Bruno
Diane Bui‐Duyet
Sophie de Ronchi
Coralie Dobral
Claire Poli
Men:
Jordan Coelho
Benoît Debast
Hugues Duboscq
Damien Joly
Amaury Leveaux
Medhy Metella
Anthony Pannier
Ganesh Pedurand
Arnaud Ronda
Switzerland
Men:
Dominik Meichtry
Flori Lang
Martin Schweizer
Simon Rabold
Colin Bridier
Jonathan Massacand
Yannick Käser
Lukas Räuftlin
Alexandre Liess
Erik van Dooren
Jean-Baptiste Febo
Kilian Bossard
Nico van Duijn
Jovan Mitrovic
Sven Pfeuti
Duncan Jacot-Descombes
Women:
Danielle Villars
Florence Sigg
Martina van Berkel
Stéphanie Spahn
Melanie Schweiger
Ivana Gabrilo
Laetitia Perez
Corinne Meier
Poland
Aleksandra Bernat
Anna Dowgiert
Otylia Jędrzejczak
Donata Kilijaoska
Anna Kowalczyk
Klaudia Naziębło
Mirela Olczak
Agnieszka Ostrowska
Weronika Paluszek
Marcelina Radlioska
Paulina Sikora
Diana Sokołowska
Katarzyna Staszkiewicz
Karolina Szczepaniak
Ewa Ścieszko
Alicja Tchórz
Aleksandra Urbaoczyk
Karolina Urbaoska
Katarzyna Wilk
Paulina Zachoszcz
Maja Zawiszewska
Paula Żukowska
Marcin Babuchowski
Konrad Czerniak
Przemysław Gorczyca
Krzysztof Jankiewicz
Jakub Jasioski
Radosław Kawęcki
Paweł Korzeniowski
Oskar Krupecki
Sławomir Kuczko
Mateusz Pacholczyk
Adam Plutecki
Michał Poprawa
Filip Rowioski
Mateusz Sawrymowicz
Mateusz Sławioski
Przemysław Staoczyk
Michał Szuba
Dawid Szulich
Marcin Unold
Paweł Werner
Łukasz Wójt
Filip Wypych
Mateusz Wysoczyoski
Way to go Nico Van Duijn (swims for Georgia Tech)!
I suspect France and Britain will very much carry the European flag in Atlanta. Both have sent small(ish) teams for Euro’s with young swimmers competing. However, Britain & France full strenght would carry a pretty big challenge to the US come the Duel. Hoping to see the likes of Lochte & Coughlin having to sweat on it for once.
I’m expecting Poland to perform extremely well. This is their first international meet in how long? They’ve got to be pumped! what’s the deal with France bringing such a small team?