The Olympic swimming test event at the London Aquatics Centre over eight days from March 3 to 10 will not only feature the best of Britain, with the likes of Paul Biedermann (GER), Yannick Agnel (FRA), Mireia Belmonte (ESP), Camille Muffat (FRA) and the $100,000 World Cup winner Chad Le Clos (RSA) entered for action.

Teams from Germany, France, Spain, Brazil, Poland, South Africa, Sweden and Korea are among more than 20 countries entered for a split event: Britain's best will only get to race against their international opponents in morning heats, the finals broken into national selection trials from 6pm followed by international finals. 

The meet lacks the three big hitters in the race pool, the USA, China (both with token entry) and Australia. The format will dictate that no British swimmer clashes with a swimmer likely to be their rival at the Games proper. European and Commonwealth champion Hannah Miley, of Garioch, will race the 400m medley final  more than an hour before Belmonte steps up to the blocks, for example.

Miley, meanwhile, will be the busiest swimmer at the trials, she is entered in the 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle against Adlington and Co, the 200m breaststroke and her specialist 200m and 400m medley. 

Entries that closed this week reveal that James Goddard, of Stockport, has dropped the 200m backstroke in favour of a pure focus on the 200m medley. The Commonwealth 200m backstroke champion who finished fourth in that event at the 2004 Olympic Games, just missed the podium in the world-title 200m medley race in Shanghai last year that saw Ryan Lochte beat US teammate Michael Phelps in the only world long-course record to be set by a swimmer in a textile suit since the ban on booster bodysuits in 2010.

The clash of the 200m backstroke and 200m medley semis and finals in the same sessions (Aug 1 and 2) at the Games is the single biggest programming misplacement of the week. Lochte, Goddard, Markus Rogan (AUT) and even Phelps were he to ever to take on an event that coach Bob Bowman "would love to see him do on the big occasion" are among several swimmers who are among the best in the world at both events. If anyone is likely to take on the challenge of twin peaks of a 200m back final just before a 200m medley final it is Gregg Troy-coached Lochte.