Start Lists Posted for Day 1 of 2013 Duel in the Pool; More Scratches for Europe

With the 2013 Duel in the Pool set to begin in just over two hours (7PM Glasgow time, 2PM United States Eastern time, and there seems to have been more last-minute scratches from the European side.

In the men’s 200 backstroke, there’s only four entries, two from each country, which guarantees both countries points. For the United States, the two are Tyler Clary and Eugene Godsoe, and for Europe its Yannick Lebherz and Craig McNally.

That means that the race will not have Chris Walker-Hebborn or Radoslaw Kawecki, either of whom could have won the race.

This year’s Duel in the Pool has devolved into a little bit of disorganized chaos, which could make it hard for swim fans to really become engaged with the competitive side of the meet. The Americans seem now lined up for another runaway point victory, and it’s hard to keep track of which Europeans are really participating. That’s in addition to the preexisting problems of poor information about prize money, and a scoring system that basically results in a lack of any true sense of team, since event winners will all-but-determine the meet outcome.

Katie Ledecky will swim the 400 free, where she could break the World Record, and should have a great race with swimmers Mireia BelmonteMelani Costa-SchmidChloe Sutton, and Lotte Friis in the field. Belmonte is the current World Record holder in this short course meters version of the race.

Conor Dwyer will swim the 400 IM and the 400 free, but not the 100 free. That 100 free will have France’s Yannick Agnel in the middle-lane as the favorite, joined by Benjamin ProudCullen JonesYannick AgnelJimmy FeigenAdam Brown, and Anthony Ervin.

In the women’s 100 free, scratched as well is Dutch sprint star and double Olympic champ Ranomi Kromowidjojo.

Dwyer’s competition in the 400 free will also include his training partner Agnel, the World Record holder who has gone back-and-forth on whether or not he’s racing the 400 seriously. That should be a great race.

American Tom Shields’ only day 1 individual entry will be the 100 fly, though he’ll likely be on the United States’ 400 medley relay. He’ll have a great shot at winning that 100 fly, given that the field will include a lot of 200 butterfliers (Tom LuchsingerBence BiczoVelimir Stjepanovic) and one sprinter who will be Shields’ top competition (Ivan Lendjer). The Americans might have missed an opportunity of putting him in the 200 back, however, where there’s lots of empty lanes, but that says that USA Swimming’s staff is probably confident about their team victory.

The meet will be broadcast live in Europe, including on SkySports 2 in the UK, and in a tape-delayed special in the United States on Sunday. Live results are available here, and we’re going to be live-recapping the entire meet as well. Full coverage is available on the event channel here.

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swimfanHolland
10 years ago

I’m a big Ranomi Fan so here is the Dutch translation coming from a Dutch native:
Kromowidjojo said:Was hoping that resting would make me feel better.Every day felt less fit, that’s why I made the dicision to not swim today and tomorrow.

bobo gigi
10 years ago

I have forgotten Sarah Sjöström and Natalie Coughlin in my list of big names who are not in Glasgow.
But there’s still great swimming to watch. 😎

bobo gigi
10 years ago

Thanks for the article.
I can now make my predictions. 🙂

No Ranomi? Very bad news for the meet. 😥
Of course it would have been better with Missy Franklin, Florent Manaudou, Katinka Hosszu, Nathan Adrian, Ryan Lochte, Jérémy Stravius, Yuliya Efimova, Ruta Meilutyte, Daniel Gyurta, Nick Thoman, Matt Grevers, Elizabeth Beisel, Federica Pellegrini or Vlad Morozov.
Anyway, I wasn’t very interested in the Duel.
What makes me smile is to watch Katie Ledecky (first ever SCM meet?), Yannick Agnel or Olivia Smoliga (always happy to see her).
Katie Ledecky has said she was enough rested to swim fast. World records? American records? GO KATIE!
Yannick Agnel has shown last week he was ready.… Read more »

Jack
10 years ago

Walker-Hebborn is not a scratch – He has been swimming 50s and 100s recently, he has not swum a 200 LC or SC since British Trials, off the top of my head. Lendjer was 51.9 at Worlds, his fastest time outside of the shambles of ’09. I’d love to be past my prime if it means swimming that quickly 😀 – In my dreams 🙁

bobo gigi
Reply to  Jack
10 years ago

So CWH will probably swim the medley relay on the backstroke leg for Europe.

SwimFanFinland
10 years ago

As for scratches Ranomi Kromowidjojo tweeted the following a couple of hours ago:

“Shit. Gehoopt dat rust me beter zou maken. Helaas. Met de dag minder fit, daarom besloten geen Duel in the Pool te zwemmen vandaag en morgen”

My Dutch is non-existent but what I managed to find out by using google translator, it appears that Ranomi is out of the Duel as well.

I hope the teams try to make this a little bit more even. Otherwise it’s settled after the first day.

SwimFanFinland
Reply to  SwimFanFinland
10 years ago

Sorry, I read the article through too quickly. Ranomi was already mentioned above! My mistake!

DanishSwimFan
Reply to  SwimFanFinland
10 years ago

🙁

This is turning into a bit of a fiasco for Europe, such a shame as the original lineups looked like it would be a great contest.

Ah well, I shall still have Jeanette and Lotte to cheer on, although both were pretty tired last week in Herning so not sure if we can expect any mind blowingly fast times from them.

Perhaps serious thought needs to be given to moving this meet to a better time of year. Imagine if this had been in that post Barcelona slot instead of the first world cup rounds, it would have been awesome.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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