USA Swimming has released more details about the upcoming Mutual of Omaha Duel in the Pool, which will pit an American All-Star squad against an squad of European E-Stars on December 16-17, in short course meters format, at the Georgia Tech pool in Atlanta.
This is the 2nd-straight year that this meet will be Americans versus Europeans, after a 185-78 trouncing by the Americans over a combined squad of Italians, Germans, and British swimmers in 2009 in Manchester, England. At that meet, which was held in Short Course Meters (like this one will be), there were 8 World Records broken in what would be the final meet of any significance during the tech-suit era.
The American team will be made up of 22 men and 22 women who will be selected on the basis of their times from the World Championships, USA Swimming National Championships, the World University Games, and the upcoming Pan American Games. The swimmers with the fastest time in each event are automatically selected to the team, as well as the swimmers with the 2nd-fastest 100 and 200 freestyle times.
From here is where the selection differs than from other major competitions. The rest of the 44 roster spots will be filled entirely at the discretion of the coaching staff (including the National Team Director and the head coaches of the squads) and “based on physical and mental preparation of athletes in conjunction with their International and National experience, strategy of the sport, and ability to score points in a duel meet situation and need to fill the team in order to win the competition.”
That clause is what is going to increase interest in this meet and can help draw more casual sports fans to the sport. The selection criteria also clarifies that swimmers don’t have to swim the events that they qualified for the team for, and that swimmers will receive bonus swims to fill up the full allotment of duel-meet spots. The American roster will be announced no later than November 1 at Noon Eastern Time.
As for the European E-Stars, The nations participating have not been officially been confirmed, but the squad will be again anchored by members of the British World Championship Team. No names have been released yet, but the USA Swimming press release indicates that World Championship swimmers from the Netherlands, Poland, Belarus, Denmark, Austria and Lithuania will be participating. While that list of countries isn’t as immediately impressive as Germany and Italy were last time, depending on which athletes commit, they could be secretly a very good squad. Especially if we see some of the Dutch and Belarusian women’s sprinters show up, along with likely appearances from Markus Rogan (who trains in the US), and the Danish distance swimmers.
The United States is 4-0 overall in this meet, with the first three wins coming against Australia. This year’s meet will feature increased prize money, with $1,500 given for World Records and $1,500 given for event wins (up from $1,000 last year). Ticket prices are also up, with the maximum of 3,000 seats per session ranging between $55 and $90, and can be purchased through Georgia Tech at this link (https://dance.ad.gatech.edu/peo/default.asp). Scroll right through the Calendar until you hit December, and then click either the 16th or the 17th for whichever day you wish to attend, and click “order now”. The meet will also be broadcast on NBC as part of the slow build to their 2012 Olympic coverage.
Expect near-full participation from Americans, who usually rally behind this meet very strongly. In 2009, Michael Phelps committed to this meet as his first ever competition in the UK, and Ryan Lochte was also slated to go before being hampered by a groin injury. The 2009 version of this meet was also the international introduction to a 14-year old swimmer named Missy Franklin, who placed 4th in the 100 free and led off the winning American 400 free relay in 52.78.
yay, the roster for the euro all-star team has finally been released!
http://www.usaswimming.org/_Rainbow/Documents/ec79b390-cccb-4636-ab2f-f4b11c047f00/Duel%20in%20the%20Pool%20European%20All.pdf
Okay, I just bought my tickets. The tickets are for each day, so $55-90 per day. We’re going on Saturday, and I am praying that the seats I got weren’t vacant for a reason that I am unaware of! I got the last two front-row seats available on the pool deck.
Braden, thanks for the info about the different days. I look forward to your post here when you hear back from USA swimming about the tickets and whether they are for one day or two. My son is extremely excited about this and it’s all he wants for Christmas!
They should announce anyday but I’m sure the swimmers that are going have been contacted. I would be surprised to see Phelps go though.
I know that Laure Manaudou and Fred Bousquet are going to be swimming at US Nationals in Atlanta, so maybe they’ll stick around and swim Duel in the Pool.
Do you know which is the better day to attend? Are ticket prices per day or for both days?
Both days are pretty well balanced really…Day 2 you’ll get to see Lochte vs. Phelps in the 200 IM, day 1 you’ll get to see Missy Franklin in the 200 back. 100 Free for men is day one, 50 is day 2. Flipped for the women (assuming the meet schedule stays the same as 2009).
Check this link for the 2009 schedule, and you can pick out which day’s event schedule you prefer.
http://omegatiming.com/index_home.htm#swimming/racearchives/2009/DuelManchester/Index_d1.htm
The website is a bit ambiguous about one-day or two-day (I’ve got a question into USA Swimming – will post when I confirm) but the seat availability seems to be identical for the two days, so my guess is that they’re two-day tickets.
Does anybody know it Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps are swimming at DUel in the Pool the December?
Allison – Nobody has been confirmed yet for the Americans, but they will most likely both be there. Both were entered in the 2009 version, though Lochte pulled out late with an injury. Atlanta isn’t a long trip for either of them, so I can’t imagine any reason why they wouldn’t attend.