USA Swimming concluded its fan-favored Duel in the Pool tournament today in Atlanta, Georgia where the best in the world competed against an elite US squad.
The American swimmers, all of whom are eyeing the London Olympics next summer, sped to a 181.5 – 80.5 victory against the European All-Stars by winning 22 of the 30 races.
This weekend’s races mark the fifth time this unique, biannual contest has been held since 2003. With the goal of promoting interest in swimming, the U.S. Swimming Federation hosted this competition - this time attracting dozens of international swimmers to race against the world’s powerhouse.
Over a two-day period, thirty races were contested in this short course, 25-meter pool at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center.
Team USA opened the tournament on Friday by setting a women’s world record in the 400m medley relay. The unit was paced by veteran Olympians Natalie Coughlin (backstroke), Rebecca Soni (breaststroke), and Dana Vollmer (butterfly), and upstart 16-year-old teenage phenom Missy Franklin who anchored in her freestyle leg. The Americans clocked a 3:45.56 time, obliterating the previous 3:47.97 world record that was set in 2009 by another US quad at this same tournament.
"We hade four really great girls in that relay. We were confident going in, and that definitely helped us get the world record," said Coughlin in a USA Swimming press release.
Leaders on Team USA include winning swimmers Ryan Lochte (200m backstroke, 200m individual medley, 400 individual medley), Brendan Hansen (100m and 200m breaststroke), Ricky Berens (100m and 200m freestyle), and Franklin (200m free, and 200 backstroke). Michael Phelps opted not to compete in this tournament.
The international contingent was paced by Ranomi Kromowidjojo who won the 100m freestyle, finished as the runner-up in the 50m free, and anchored the newly assembled 400m freestyle relay team to its world record.
In this final race, Jeanette Ottesen of Denmark, Francesca Halsall of Britain, Aliaksandra Heresimenia of Belarus and Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands eclipsed the world record of 3:28.22, with a 3:27.53 finish. Despite this incredible performance, the time will not officially be logged as a record-breaker, due to the racers hailing from different countries.
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