Duel in the Pool

[rseltzer]

Just a little more than 30 days before the "Duel in the Pool". This is one of the most creative and exciting meet formats that USA Swimming has come up with yet. It's the US vs Australia. It's a duel meet format. The best men and women swimmers from each team compete in a limited number of events, head-to-head for bragging rights of the best swimming team in the world.

For more information check out: http://www.usaswimming.org/Duel/Duel.htm

If the teams are tied then the outcome is decided by a mixed 200 medley relay.

Predictions anyone?

Australia has Thorpe but we have Phelps and Coughlin. Australia has edge in men's freestyle events but we more depth in the strokes. I'm rooting for a close meet because it would be very exciting to see a tie-breaker medley relay BUT US should win it without the relay (why don't they swim it anyway?) .

Whole meet should take three hours or less, is scheduled for Sunday April 6th in Indy and will be broadcast the following week on network TV.

[Bert Petersen]

Sounds interesting and fun..... I will try to watch.
Without notices like this, some of us would never hear of these events.
By the way, it's "dual" meet (as in two-way) unless you are deliberately trying for a play on words with "duel".
English major here........sorry !

Bert

[Rob Copeland]

Bert,

Bob is correct. It is “duel” not “dual”.

And, I’m sure that our friends at USA-Swimming have an English major or two, so I assume the homophone was some marketing brainstorm.

[Bert Petersen]

I see that........thank you.
The "duel in the pool" dual meet should be fun and interesting.

Bert

[rseltzer]

Got my tickets in the mail today and am psyched to cheer on the US in person!

Here's how I think things will shake out on Sunday April 6th
(5-3-2-1 individual; 7-0 relays No more than 3 entrants per event)

400 Free Relay
Men-Australia
Women-US

400 IM
Men-US
Women-Australia

100 BA
Men-Australia
Women-US

100 BR
Men-US
Women-US

100 FLY
Men-US
Women-US

200 BA
Men-US
Women-US

200 BR
Men-US
Women-US

(Now the US has a pretty good lead based on their depth in strokes. Hold on here come the Aussies and their awesome freestylers. Things get interesting)

50 FR
Men-Australia
Women-US

200 FR
Men-Australia
Women-US

(Australia picks up ground because of their depth on the men's side)

200 FL
Men-US
Women-Australia

800 FR Women-US
1500 FR Men-Australia

(Australia has picke up more ground based on their strength in men's distance)

400 Medlay Relay
Men-US
Women-US

(Both are close races but Team US triumphs as the hometown crowd cheers them on)

In the unlikely event of a tie:

200 Mixed Medley Relay

Coughlin, Moses, Phelps and Thompson can beat a relay composed of the best of the rest of the world in this event.

Check out the details at: http://www.usaswimming.org/Duel/Duel.htm

[Robin Parisi]

You forgot to make a call in the 100 Free!

[rseltzer]

Oops!

100 FR
Men-Australia (One of three wins for Thorpe)
Women-US (Thompson or Coughlin in either case US should win)

What about world records? Anyone care to venture a prediction?

[breastroker]

I predict a $50,000 bonus going to Ed Moses for Two (2) world records, and the first time in ages that one swimmer will hold both these records. Ed has more speed than any other breaststroker every, he just has never had a perfect long course meters race. He is so far ahead of the rest of the world in the 200 short course meters it is amazing.

So if he has that magic race you may see 57.7 in the 100 and 2:06+ in the 200 breaststrokes.

He just may come through and really excite the home crowd!!!

And he is the main reason why we will win the mens 400 medley relay and if it comes down to it, the mixed relay.

Wayne McCauley

[rseltzer]

Wayne:

I agree that Ed Moses has a very good chance of setting two world records-although he will have to overcome his previous performances when the pressure is really on (2000 Olympic Trials in the 200 and his 100 breast in the Olympics). He does seem to swim much better with less competition-witness his incredible time trial. He has the talent and as a fellow (but much slower) breaststroker I'd love to see it.

I do disagree, however, with your assertion that if there is a 200 mixed medley relay that Moses would be the "main reason" the US would win. I assert that in the unlikely event of such a tie-breaking relay it is Natalie Coughlin who will effectively end the race on the first leg. She is so far ahead of the rest of the world, and especially the Australians, in this event. The Aussies do have some decent men breaststrokers (not as good as Moses in the sprints) but no one can touch Natalie. She will simply gap the Aussies right off the start when she comes up at 15 meters-race over!
There are a lot of very talented swimmers in the world right now, and quite a few will be swimming that day. Natalie however is in a class of her own and is the ONLY legitimate threat to repeat the Spitz performance in 1972. (Without the new format of prelims, semis, etc she would probably do it). Thorpe especially gets a lot of press but right now he is not favored or rank #1 in the four individual events-nor is Phelps. Natalie is a triple threat in the free/back/fly.

[breastroker]

I do not think that at this moment Natalie Coughlin is as dominant long course meters as she should be. Her 49.9 hundred yards back should equate to a 57 in long course meters, the world was happy when she only did a 59+.

I have looked at last years NCAA video tape a hundred times, she is awesome, gaining over a body length over everyone after the start and each turn. But swimming alone she is not as dominant.

We are indeed fortunate that the Australian ladies are not as good as the europeans in free, back and fly. Natalie should win all three 100 meters races by at least a half a second. If this dual in the pool was shourt course meters she would get at least 6 golds.

We finally have men who can do 51+ for 100 meter fly, that has been our weakest event since 1992.

I hope they have underwater shots of the swimmers like the Olympics. We can all learn form the great swimmers.

Wayne

[rseltzer]

Wayne:

I agree with you that Moses is a better candidate for a world record that day then Natalie largely because she will swim two weeks after her shave/taper for NCAA and Moses will likely target Spring Nationals. A number of the US NCAA women swimmers will be at a similar "disadvantage". (The Men will have only one week from their taper).

RE SCY/SCY vs LCM.

I once asked John Flanagan, who has coached quite a few swimmers to success at all level, what "conversion factor" to use going from SC to LC--his answer was "none, there two different sports."

Having said that, while you might think that Natalie "should" swim a 57 but "only" swims a 59 for LCM it still better than any other woman has managed so far.

[cinc310]

I think that Natalie will probably win her races and hope that Moses will go under the 1:00 mark

[croberts]

http://espn.go.com/oly/news/2003/0316/1524855.html

could it really happen? it would be a shame

[rseltzer]

That would be more than a shame. In the recent edition of Splash, US Swimming talks about how difficult it was to schedule this meet. It's pretty obvious that if cancelled for April 6th then it will be nearly impossible to get it re-scheduled this year and next year everyone will be focused on the Olympics.

Let's hope this event goes off as planned for all the reasons.

[MetroSwim]

There could be trouble in the pool. The near-certainty of a war with Iraq in the coming days may be putting into doubt whether the Duel in the Pool will happen.

http://espn.go.com/oly/news/2003/0316/1524855.html

[joy]

If u have checked Swim info, Petria Thomas has also been scratched from the meet for Australia because of needed shoulder surgery.

[cinc310]

I notice that there are alot of elite swimmers who having severe shoulder problems. Maybe, they should have more breastroke in workouts to avoid so much free, or fly, or back. Or maybe doing high milegage in swimming just takes its toll if its done over a number of years. Women swimmers 30 years ago quit at age 19 or 20 and many of them are staying into their 20's now, I'm talking about of course about non-master's swimming.

[rseltzer]

Well we've lost some of the Aussies to the SCARED virus as reported by www.swinfo.com on 4/1 but it looks like we'll see some fast swimming anyway. Phelps just proved that he's a force in just about every stroke at every distance and Moses should prove to be a very entertaining swimmer and may even fulfill Wayne's prediction if he can learn how to control himself in the first half of his races. (Why not save it for Sunday Ed and earn that $50,000?)

Will the coaches put Phelps in the 200 and see if he can beat Hackett head-to-head? Will Peirsol's 1:39 200 SCY back translate into a 1:54 or even 1:53 200 back?

Doesn't Thorpe now look vulnerable given his current "virus-stricken" state?

I bet there be some pretty interesting talk along these, and other lines, in Indianiapolis this Sunday morning.

Any predictions of great performances out there?

[cinc310]

Well, there was a world record and our men team looks good and we have a lot of women strength too. I think we will end up with more gold in Athens than we have in a long time. And the first meet in Athens in 1896, we had one swimmer according to the TV story, didn't want to swim because it was too cold in the lake. The Aussie's had some injuries and some sickness and wanted to safe themselves.

[rseltzer]

We saw some great swimming yesterday. Great atmosphere too with lots of very charged kids cheering on their favorite swimmers. Only thing missing was a close dual meet since the Aussie team was missing some of their stars (they still would have lost).

Pretty tough performances by the college women who had to swim 2+ weeks plus after their taper. The men had a similar problem but had the advantage of being one week closer to their taper.

Phelps performance was, as reported, awesome--especially in the 200 fly. He was clearly tired after 400 IM and 100 fly and was racing against a fresh Malchow. Behind by a lot at the 150 he managed to catch up with a tremendous finish. He's mentally just as tough as he is physically.

Also his stroke was pretty interesting. Flattest butterfly I've seen since Pankrotov (spelling?). He hardly moves his head and it appears as if his head is immobile and his body rotates around it (that's probably impossible). He defintely doesn't look "down" in the non-breathing stroke and doesn't look "up" in the breathing stroke. His head also appeared absolutely motionless in the backstroke (more so, then Lenny K or Peirsol).

Natalie Coughin was not in top form and it showed in the 400 free relay but her 100 back, with little rest from the relay, was pretty impressive. Especially, her kick off the turn.

Moses actually held back in the first 100 of his 200 and looked great (and said he felt great) at the finish. He'll break those world records at worlds if he follow that kind of race plan.

Things look pretty good for the US next year.

This will be broadcast next week on NBC so check your local listings.

Anyone else see this meet out there?