British head coach, Denis Pursley, has no doubt about which team is the one to gun for at the sellout Duel in the Pool: the one he used to sit at the helm of - the USA.
An E-Stars European select from Britain, Germany and Italy is the weaker team on paper, says the Brit head coach but the visitors from across the Pond can expect to face a squad ready to do battle in a fun but intense environment that will provide great entertainment for those who have bought tickets for the event at the Manchester Aquatics Centre next Friday and Saturday. The Duel will also be televised.
Pursley said: “I expect there’s going to be a high level of competition in the races and it’ll be exciting to see where we stand up head-to-head against the Americans. On paper the USA team are much stronger but we’ve got the best British swimmers competing in the meet and some strong swimmers from Italy and Germany as well. It’s a much more fan-friendly format with a straight final featuring the top swimmers in each event adding more focus and intensity to the competition and the athletes will enjoy it.”
World 100m back champion (in her 50% poly LZR) Gemma Spofforth, who was today named as winner of the British Olympic Committee Olympic Athlete of the Year Trophy for aquatics (each sport gets one award), will travel home from her US base to take on some of those she is used to racing in domestic events.
Said Spofforth: “It’s very exciting. The format is new in Britain but I’m used to this style of racing in college [in America] so I know how great the atmosphere can be. Everyone’s going to be racing hard and it will be a nice way to lead into the 2010 season. It should be a really great atmosphere and a great opportunity for the sport. It’s a lot of fun and the crowd should really get into it.”
And the man up in lights on the billboards that sold the tickets, 14-times Olympic gold medallist Michael Phelps in his 2010-compliant jammers and laying down one of the challenges for all those heading for the Duel in all events: come on if you think you're hard enough for the future.
Some, like Katie Hoff, Ariana Kukors, Rebecca Adlington and Liam Tancock have already indicated that they are ready to race in 2010. The E-Stars comprises 14 British, 13 Italian and seven German swimmers.
Any lingering shiny suit silliness apart, the Duel should be a great way to end a fabulous decade of swimming, in which Phelps emerged not only as the greatest of the past 10 years but the greatest swimmer ever and the greatest Olympian ever. That he and coach Bob Bowman should have led the way into the future as they have done provides inspiration for a generation that will now grow up, provided FINA honours its promises, free of the interference of equipment that teaches them to rely on props, overshadows their hard work and in 2008-09 poured the poison of doubt on performance in the race pool.
