Thorpe, Trickett Returns Highlight Singapore WC Start Lists

FINA has released the start lists for the first meet of the Asian World Cup leg, that will start tomorrow in Singapore.

Here is the Omega Timing page, but if you’d prefer, we’ve combined them all into one PDF file here.

The big story of the meet will be the return of the two Australian greats Ian Thorpe (in the first time since his retirement) and Libby Trickett (for the first time against an international field since her retirement.

Thorpe will be entered in an extremely light schedule of the 100 fly and 100 IM, though neither of those races are ones that he intends to compete in during the Olympics. The goal of these meets, according to several statements by Thorpe and his coaches, is to get reaccustomed to racing. This likely includes acclimating to and catching up with all of the new procedures, including the suit checks that are now a major part of the pre-race scheduling.

Thorpe probably has target times in each of these races that he will use to gauge his congruous progress in the races we don’t see. His seed times are 53.35 in the 100 fly (10th seed) and 54.82 in the 100 IM (5th seed).

“In not doing freestyle, there’s a lot of work I need to do on my freestyle, it’s not race-ready yet, it’s close and I think I’m swimming pretty well in freestyle. But I’m comfortable that I’m not doing it. I know what’s happening at training and we will be able to do some freestyle pretty soon and it’s something that I will be able to look forward to as well,” Thrope said in a pre-meet press conference.

Trickett, who based on timing alone has made more progress into her comeback, will be much busier in this meet. She will swim the 50 fly (26.72 – 4th seed), 50 free (25.41 – 6th seed), 100 fly (1:00.86), and the 100 free (54.18 – 2nd seed). It’s that 100 free where she’s the current World Record holder.

The American contingent will be mostly comprised of the 13 Palo Alsto-Stanford Aquatics swimmers who will be in attendance (the high school group, not the post-grads). The headliner of that squad is Jasmine Tosky, who was on the 2011 World Championships team and recently gave a verbal committment to swim at USC next fall.

It will truly be the Australians who headline these meets, much like the Americans did on the European leg. Among the best races will be the 100 free, which will see Aussies Matthew Abood and Eamon Sullivan, France’s Jeremy Stravius, and Kenya’s Jason Dunford. Thorpe is expected to jump in on that battle at later stops in the series.

We mentioned that Stravius of France will swim in the 100 free. He will be joined at this meet by countrymate Benjamin Stasiulis. The two swimmesr will showdown several times in this meet, but the highlight will be probably the 200 back. There, they will show off against Austria’s Markus Rogan, who won an Olympic silver in 2004 in the event but swore it off last year, and former Florida star Omar Pinzon.

On the women’s side, the French will bring along some of their young, budding superstars, like 18-year old 50 fly specialist Melanie Henique, 21-year old backstroker Alexianne Castel, and 21-year old middle-distance freestyler Ophelie-Lyrielle Etienne.

The 50 fly with Henique could be a fabulous race, though it’s hard to gain much public interest in a 50-meter, short course race. It will feature Henique, the aforementioned Trickett, Sweden’s Therese Alshammar (the series leader), and Singapore’s Tao Li, who is a former Olympic finalist in the 100 but is even better in the 50.

For those who are keeping track of the overall series standings (check them out at the bottom of this sheet), South Africa’s Chad le Clos, who currently leads the standings, will march on through Asian. Missy Franklin technically leads the women’s standings, but she’s back home in the states and isn’t eligible for series-prizes anyways. That leaves Alshammar as the odds-on-favorite to march to another victory and $100,000 prize.

To watch the meet live or in recap, go to FINATV here. Finals will start Friday and Saturday morning at 6AM New York Time, or 9 PM Sydney Time (6 PM Local Singapore Time).