Olympic champions Stephanie Rice and Libby Trickett will head the Australian team in the first Duel In The Pool swim meet against Japan in Canberra on May 9 and 10, Swimming Australia said today.

The new meet is said to have replaced the US Vs AUS duel now that the USA is looking to Europe for a duel of a different kind in the build-up to London 2012. Japan will be led by five among those who shot up the world rankings to make themselves title and medal hopes in Rome at world championships this July: Irie Ryosuke, Ken Takakuwa, Yuta Suenaga, Rie Kaneto and Nanaka Tamura. Eamon Sullivan, Andrew Lauterstein and Jessicah Schipper will be among those who race for the Dolphins.

Meanwhile, Nick D'Arcy, serving a suspended sentence for inflicting grievous bodily harm on a former swimmer, Simon Cowley, last year, can compete for Australia again in the future even though he has been dropped from the Rome 2009 team. Swimming Australia declared yesterday that D'Arcy will be eligible once more from August 3. "It's great there is now an end," D'Arcy's coach, Brian Stehr, is quoted as saying.