The following is a press release from USA Swimming. SwimSwam will have its own full preview once psych sheets are released.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – With Olympic gold medalist and Daytona Beach, Fla., native Ryan Lochte headlining the expected field, USA Swimming’s 2013-14 Arena Grand Prix Series reaches the midway point next week with the Arena Grand Prix at Orlando, slated for Feb. 13-15 at the YMCA Aquatic Center.
The 2013 FINA Athlete of the Year for swimming and an 11-time Olympic Games medalist, Lochte is expected to compete for the first time since suffering a knee injury late last year.
In addition to Lochte, top athletes expected to swim in Orlando include: fellow Olympic medalists Tyler Clary (Riverside, Calif.), Jimmy Feigen (San Antonio, Texas), Cullen Jones (Irvington, N.J.), Nick Thoman (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Caitlin Leverenz (Tucson, Ariz.); as well as women’s Arena Grand Prix Series leader Megan Romano (Jacksonville, Fla.).
The more than 500 athletes expected to compete include nearly 20 members of the USA Swimming National Team.
Universal Sports Network will air live coverage of the meet Thursday, Feb. 13 and Friday, Feb. 14 at 6 p.m. ET. A live webcast of the entire meet will be streamed online via usaswimming.org.
The action begins Thursday, Feb. 13 and continues through Saturday, Feb. 15 with prelims at 9 a.m. ET followed by finals at 6 p.m. ET. Tickets are required for each session and can be pre-ordered or purchased at the pool. Visit orlandograndprix.org for ticket details.
As part of USA Swimming’s partnership with Arena, the Arena Grand Prix Series will offer swimmers the opportunity to take home prize money for top finishes in all individual Olympic-distance events. In total, $150,000 in prize money is available to be distributed over the course of the six-meet series. At each meet, $500 will be awarded for a first-place finish, $300 for second and $100 for third in all individual events. Arena is serving as the title sponsor for the Arena Grand Prix Series for the second straight year.
In addition to the prize money, swimmers will compete for a Series grand prize from BMW. For the first time in the history of the Series, BMW will give the highest-scoring eligible male and female U.S. swimmer a one-year lease of a BMW ActiveHybrid 3 Series.
Male and female overall Arena Grand Prix Series champions will be honored at the conclusion of the 2013-14 series based on the number of points accumulated throughout the six meets. Participants will be awarded points in each individual Olympic event throughout the duration of the Series (Five points for first, three for second, one point for third place).
Conor Dwyer (Winnetka, Ill.) and France’s Yannick Agnel currently top the men’s Arena Grand Prix Series standings after two of six meets with 27 points each, while Romano leads the women’s standings with 24.5 points. Click here for a complete leaderboard and additional series information.
About USA Swimming
As the National Governing Body for the sport of swimming in the United States, USA Swimming is a 400,000-member service organization that promotes the culture of swimming by creating opportunities for swimmers and coaches of all backgrounds to participate and advance in the sport through clubs, events and education. Our membership is comprised of swimmers from the age group level to the Olympic Team, as well as coaches and volunteers. USA Swimming is responsible for selecting and training teams for international competition including the Olympic Games, and strives to serve the sport through its core objectives: Build the base, Promote the sport, Achieve competitive success. For more information, visitwww.usaswimming.org.
any fast meets to watch out for this weekend?
If Phelps is going to make his comeback, he should’ve entered this meet.
YouGotLezakd – he was not eligible to swim in this meet yet. He has still not been in the testing pool for 9 months.
So, will Michael be eligible by the time of the Mesa Grand Prix? He could grab a round of golf on the Sunday after the meet to keep that as a backup plan if this whole comeback thing doesn’t pan out.
Oops my mistake! Thanks Braden.
Will Michael Andrew swim there to break again a few NAG records?
He’s still 14 for a few weeks. Until May I believe?
Until April….and yes I believe he’s planning to swim in Orlando.
Thanks for the precision.
So he hasn’t many opportunities in long course anymore before he turns 15.
Perhaps 2 or 3.
He must be able to break the 100 fly record. 54.80 by Justin Lynch.
The 100 free record is old. 51.59 by Noel Strauss in 1987! Not easy but why not?
And I would like to see him lower his 50 free record with a sub 23, his 200 IM record around 2.03 and his 100 breast record in 1.02. I remember him that probably the best 100 breast time ever for a 14-year-old boy is 1.02.39 by Daniel Gyurta in April 2004.
Probably the toughest “world” to beat is of Course Gyurta (his 200 breast at 15 is probably the hardest age record along with phelps 200 fly and Thorpe 200/400)
But there are some tought times.. the 100 free of 50.86 of Chalmers and his 54.79 fly..
Is anyone close to Thorpes amazing 1.50 and 3.50 at 14? His 15 year time is something crazy so I wont even ask..
Thorpe’s 15 yo 200 free record is 1:46.70 (The WR at that time was Lambertti’s legendary 1:46.69 so only 0.01 second off WR).
and his 15 yo 400 free record is 3:44.35 (The WR was the legendary Perkins’ 3:43.80 set in 2004 Rome, so only .55 seconds off WR).
Now, the equivalent of Thorpe’s swim for today’s standard is if a 15 yo swims a 1:43.15 and 3:40.63
Oh, in case anyone forget, the swim must be done in speedo briefs just as Thorpe did 🙂
Hard to see a 15 you does it again in the next decade or so.