The 2014 edition of the BHP Aquatic Super Series begins Friday in Perth, Western Australia, with two days worth of swimming (plus a little water polo action thrown in for good measure) and boat-fulls of cash on the line. Swimming will run Friday and Saturday, and Australia will play Croatia in water polo on Saturday in this meet that is purely about a full fan experience.
The meet pits some of the best swimmers from Australia, China, Japan, Brazil, and South Africa against each other in a timed-finals shootout for cash and national glory.
The meet will be swum in a 10 lane pool, and each country gets two of those 10 lanes in each event.
There is roughly half-a-million dollars in prize money up for the swimmers, including awards to high finishers in individual and relay events, as well as a prize to be divided among the winning team.
The water polo match will hand out $100,000, and the SwimTheSwan event on February 2nd will also have a pile of cash prizes.
Full start lists and live results for the meet can be found here. Friday’s swimming will begin at 5:15 Perth time, which is around 4:15AM New York time, and Saturday will begin at 5:30 Perth time (4:30AM New York time).
Cate Campbell, 52’34 again.
52.34 is her seed time.
The race hasn’t started yet. 😉
Interesting to see what Australian swimming will make this year after a few world meets with overall bad results.
Apart from its 2 big sprint stars, Magnussen and Campbell, Australia doesn’t shine anymore. As a Frenchman, I was happy to see France ahead of Australia in the medal table at the world championships last year but it’s not very normal.
Can the new head coach Jacco Verhaeren have a great and fast impact on that team? I think so.
They have a good generation of young swimmers. Can they translate that to international success?
We’ll see.