For the first time ever, the Americans’ opponents in the Duel in the Pool series might have put together a roster that could challenge the yanks’ perfect record.
The European All Stars’ lineup includes four 2011 World Champions (Aleksandra Herasimenia, Jeanette Ottesen, Lotte Friis, and Daniel Gyurta), and a slew of others who have shown up on World Championship medal stands in past years(Katinka Hosszu, Fran Hasall, Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Elizabeth Simmonds, Gemma Spofforth, and Laszlo Cseh.
Altogether, 18 different countries will be representing the Old Continent in their matchup against the best in the United States. (See the American roster here).
The European women seem to have more firepower than the men, though there are plenty of names on the men’s side. The All-Stars’ women should dominate the relays – consider a 400 free relay made up of Halsall, Kromowidjojo, Herasimenia, and Ottesen. Until Sarah Sjotstrom’s swim last week, those were the top 4 100 freestylers in the world this year.
The men are pringing a great middle-to-distance freestyle group, including Gergo Kis, Pal Joensen, Mads Glaesner, and Dominik Meitchtry.
The biggest weaknesses are in the men’s sprint groups (led by Adam brown and Vlad Morozov), and the women’s breaststrokes (things are pretty thin after Moller-Pedersen, though Nijhuis is improving). The downfall of this European roster might be that they aren’t all that well-balanced. They have big concentrations of swimmers, especially on the men’s side with four very similar distance freestylers, and a lot of IM’ers, but not much depth in the other events.
This squad should give the United States a good run for their money in a week in Atlanta, though.
Men’s Roster (22)
| Name | Country |
| Peter Bernek | Hungary |
|  Bence Biczo | Hungary |
|  Adam Brown | Great Britain |
|  Laszlo Cseh | Hungary |
| Konrad Czerniak | Poland |
|  Mads Glaesner | Denmark |
|  Daniel Gyurta | Hungary |
|  Francois Heersbrandt | Belgium |
| Pal Joensen | Faroe Islands |
|  Dinko Jukic | Austria |
|  Radoslaw Kawecki | Poland |
|  Gergo Kis | Hungary |
|  Pawel Korzeniowski | Poland |
|  Marco Loughran | Great Britian |
| Dominik Meichtry | Switzerland |
|  Vladimir Morozov | Russia |
| Robbie Renwick | Great Britain |
| Markus Rogan | Austria |
| Krisztian Takacs | Hungary |
| Giedrius Titenis | Lithuania |
| David Verraszto | Hungary |
| Christian vom Lehn | Germany |
Women’s Roster (19)
| Name | Country |
| Lotte Friis | Denmark |
|  Anna Martina Granstroem | Sweden |
|  Francesca Halsall | Great Britain |
|  Aleksandra Herasimenia | Belarus |
|  Katinka Hosszu | Hungary |
| Zsuzsanna Jakabos | Hungary |
| Anja Klinar | Slovenia |
| Ranomi Kromowidjojo | Netherlands |
| Rikke Moller Pedersen | Denmark |
| Grainne Murphy | Ireland |
| Moniek Nijhuis | Netherlands |
| Jeanette Ottesen | Denmark |
| Elizabeth Simmonds | Great Britain |
|  Gemma Spofforth | Great Britain |
| Marleen Veldhuis | Netherlands |
| Evelyn Verraszto | Hungary |
| Sharon von Rouwendaal | Netherlands |
|  Barbora Zavadova | Czech Republic |
|  Daryna Zevina | Ukraine |
well the list of events has been published by USA Swimming:
Friday, Dec. 16
400m Medley Relay
400m IM
100m Free
200m Back
200m Breast
100m Fly
400m Free
Saturday, Dec. 17
800m Free
100m Back
100m Breast
200m Fly
50m Free
200m IM
400m Free Relay
looking forward to Braden’s analysis of how this schedule might affect swimmers from both teams 🙂
also looks like Ryan may be in the middle of Xmas training as are some others (Dagny?), so im expecting the e-stars to surprise a few… Tom W has already made predictions for the men on his site…
And for Duel in the Pool, I understand it’s a fun meet and a team event but TV hasn’t to choice who swims. And I don’t think it would be a good thing for Missy to lose by a big margin, even if short course isn’t her speciality. Don’t forget Natalie is her idol. And I’m interesting to see future races between them. Missy will have to kill her next year in the pool and she must forget the fan’s side.
Braden, thank you for your answer about Vlad Morozov. I like this story. A russian who wants to swim for USA. It might be a major piece for american sprint in the future which, with the exception of Nathan Adrian, is today very bad. Even if he must prove he’s fast in long course. I think your national coach on the men’s side would have prefered to have him next year on the american team. In your 4X100 free relay you have 3 big stars with Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte and Nathan Adrian. But who will be the fourth? I can tell you France will have 4 big men who can swim 48 low or under, Australia will have them… Read more »
The European men’s weak sprint has been improved a little, Czerniak went to of the SC world rankings tonight on the 50fr! And Kawecki top of the 200bk rankings.
Most of the men in the Euro squad are putting up strong times in Szczecin. keep it up.
I don’t know which events Missy will swim, but in two days 100 free, 200 free, 100 back, 200 back, 4X100 free relay and 4X100 medley relay, it’s perhaps a little too much. I think 100 back is a question. Because to swim with Natalie Coughlin in the same race in short course for Missy with her weak underwaters will be very hard and she can lose by a big margin. I know it will not be the same story in long course but it wouldn’t be a good thing with the trials on her mind. From another side she can follow her to beat easily her PB. In Todd Schmitz we trust.
bobo – As for Vlad, I haven’t heard anything to indicate he’s decided to stay Russian. If anything, the further he gets into the Russian team and has to hop back and forth from Europe, and realizes how that hurts his training, it seems like it woul bd even more of a reason to switch.
As for Missy, it’s acutally “in coach Bauerle we trust” because it’s the team coaches who are choosing the event lineups. Don’t be surprised, since the event is designed for TV, if you see the stars like Missy and Lochte swim a lot of events, especially in short course (where it’s arguably easier to load up). Look at what they do at the World Cup… Read more »
Ok, it’s Vlad Morozov. It seems nobody wants to answer me about him. So I repeat again my question. Does he always want to swim for USA after 2012? It would be a major piece for american sprint in the future.
gosharks, spot on about Lochte and the MR.
I would not be shocked by the 400FR relay going to Europe either. However, it would not be a WR so…damn!
I think Lochte was allegedly “not fully tapered/rested” for SC Worlds last December and clearly he swam well and it didn’t affect his performance the next summer, so I kind of have a feeling he will be fast. But I have no inside info.
Women’s 400 MR world record is falling.