The hopes and ambitions of a European Select Team from Britain, Germany and Italy to defeat aquatic superpower the USA at the British Gas/Mutual of Omaha Duel in the Pool in Manchester in December are destined to be dashed, it seems: just as the Stars and Stripes announced a line-up of its biggest guns, three of the old world's superstars looked set to send their apologies.
Hopes that the short-course duel at the Manchester Aquatics Centre, scene of the 2002 Commonwealth Games, might be the first international to impose a ban on bodysuits and non-textile materials also look set to be dashed: SwimNews understands that at least one national suit sponsor is unlikely to have its 2010 collection ready for use in December and has never made textile race suits before.
While the US and Britain are known to be keen to impose 2010 rules a month early, organisers are reluctant to press the issue for fear that Russia and France would be joined by others on the list of nations interested but unable to attend. In addition, Ryan Lochte (USA) said that he would wear the LZR Racer that he wore in Rome if there was no official bar to doing so.
Apart from Michael Phelps, that is: Superfish has already, to his great credit, declared that he will race in textile jammers that will fit the bill in 2010. Lochte, in a teleconference with media from Europe and the US, followed up his LZR declaration with the following: “I might go crazy and wear a banana hammock [traditional briefs] ... he [Phelps] will try to convince me to do it too ... its more of a challenge and I love challenges.”
He and his fellow Americans will surely provide a challenge for the European Select: Team USA could hardly have selected a tougher squad for the duel at the Manchester Aquatics Centre on December 18-19, among its 36 swimmers 10 Olympic and world champions, including Phelps, Lochte, Katie Hoff, Rebecca Soni and Arian Kukors. The European Select refrained from announcing a team until all parties could confirm entries.
Hopes of getting Germany's Paul Biedermann, who inflicted a rare defeat on 14-times Olympic champion Phelps when taking the American's world record to win the 200m freestyle world crown in Rome in July, teammate Britta Steffen, double Olympic and world sprint freestyle champion, and Italian double world champion Federica Pellegrini to Manchester appear to be slim.
Biedermann is committed to racing in St Petersburg, Russia, the day before the Manchester duel, while Pellegrini, world record holder over 200m and 400m freestyle, is taking time out of the water following the sudden death of her personal mentor and Italian head coach Alberto Castagnetti after a by-pass operation this month, and Steffen, who over 50m and 100m freestyle in Rome accounted for two more European gold medals and world records, is almost sure to be among prize winners at Germany's prestigious annual Sports awards, to be held the weekend of the Duel.
Biedermann will clash with Phelps before the duel: both men are entered in the Stockholm and Berlin rounds of the FINA World Cup, the American committed to wearing a 2010 suit. Before Rome Biedermann also regularly wore textile suits and while not quite as super-sharp as he was in the waters of the Eternal City's Foro Italico, the German had long been building into a competitive force to reckon with.
Results at the world championships last July undoubtedly reflected the use of performance-enhancing non-textile suits, Rome destined to go down as the last major world gathering at which shiny suits spoiled the sport before the extinction of all full bodysuits and non-textiles as of January 1, 2010.
Nonetheless, the potential for a tight tussle in Manchester is tantalising: both the USA and the combined three European nations headed for the duel won 13 medals Europe’s count relied heavily on the six gold medals won by Biedermann, Steffen and Pellegrini. Without them in Manchester, the challenge may well become a mission impossible as far as overall victory goes.
Efforts are being made to get Biedermann to Manchester. Duel organisers have switched the last session of the duel to Saturday afternoon, instead of the morning, in an effort to make travel prospects more attractive to the double world champion and record holder, while Dirk Lange, head coach to Germany, told SwimNews: "The DSV [German federation] wants to send its best team and it is in the best interests of our swimmers to race at this high-profile meet that is just as important for us as the European short-course championships. We need a couple more days to confirm our team."
Speaking from Halle, Embacher said: "Paul wants to race in St Petersburg and he will do the day before [the Manchester event]. There is no direct flight to Manchester, no flight late on race day [in Russia] and we're looking at a seven-hour connection-flight." He laughed at the prospect of stepping off a long flight onto a block to face Phelps, textile suits or not.
When Biedermann beat Phelps he wore an arena X-Glide that Embacher credited with possibly providing his charge with 0.7sec of extra speed every 50m, a huge difference and one that saw the German crack the 400m freestyle world record of the retired Australian Ian Thorpe. The Duel was to have been run under 2010 suit rules, which ban the use of bodysuits and non-textile materials that have enhanced performance significantly in the past two years and have accounted for an exaggerated 201 world records.
Italy’s suit sponsor, Jaked, may not have a 2010 textile suit ready in time for the duel, so the American-British pact to bring 2010 forward has been relaxed. Add to the mix the incentive of a $15,000 prize for a world record and some may well opt to wear the booster suits of the summer past, especially if no-one is telling them that they cannot, as we have seen in the past two years.
The suit issue is not one that is holding Italy back from deciding its team: the unexpected death of popular coach Castagnetti has, understandably, thrown things out of kilter on many levels for the Italians. Pellegrini is reported to be devastated by the loss. It is unlikely that she will wish to step up for a big challenge under the guidance of a new coach within a matter of weeks from now.
Castagnetti was an early outspoken critic of non-textile suits, calling the LZR "technological doping". He responded by allowing his swimmers to be as competitive as they could under the circumstances, and Pellegrini goes down in history as the last swimmer to win an Olympic crown while wearing two suits before the practice was banned by FINA in 2009 because of the potential for providing buoyancy.
Jaked, arena and adidas were among Speedo rivals that responded with an escalation in the use of polyurethane and suit engineering designed to convert swimmers into what Steffen called “speedboats”. The death knell was sounded for the suits in a 168-nation majority vote in Rome, coupled with a tweak to Rule 10.7 that added the words "or swimsuit" to "device" to leave no doubt what swimming nations wanted: no artificial performance enhancement of any kind, from kit, medicine cabinet or anything else.
The vast majority of world-class swimmers asked have stated that they will be glad to see the back of shiny suits on January 1, 2010, not least of all because the burden of a 40-minute or so pre-race dress-rehearsal will be removed from their plates.
Germany’s clash of interests, common among many nations in a wider world of swimming trying to cope with calendar demands and other commitments, provides a glimmer of the much greater problems there have been in trying to put together a genuine “Team Europe” for the duel. In 2001, Peter Daland, former US head coach, revealed to The Times in London that talks had started between the US and the Ligue Européenne de Natation (LEN) to have a “Ryder Cup of Swimming”.
Organising that has proved devilishly difficult, with too many differences of opinions and clashing interests on a range of issues. Russia and France were due to have taken part at the duel this time but the dates, for Russia, and a clash of sponsors (energy company EDF backs French swimming but is a direct commercial rival to British Gas in Britain) did not suit. France later said that the sponsor issue was not a factor keeping it away from the duel but all other issues certainly appeared less significant as serious barriers to participation under the auspices of "where there's a will there's a way".
Trying to get the European Swimming League and its many parts to agree to formats and dates and participation had proved to be "a headache that would not go away", according to one source close to discussions between the US and European parties. That having been the case, willing European partners had been invited to the ball instead.
Members of the European Select are now seeking a common symbol to place on race caps in order to present a rare tripartite stand against the US, which, of course, will look like a unified team in some variety of Stars and Stripes, in time-honoured fashion. Said Britain's Gemma Spofforth, who has much more in common with her American rivals: “Barring the language barrier, I hope we can sort that out and be a team ... we will get in there and race for each other.”
In the teleconference today, Spofforth, 100m backstroke world champion and record holder based in the Sunshine State, agreed with her Florida training partner Lochte as she promoted the duel. She was unsure what she would wear, as yet, but believed that by going back to the type of suits last worn some 10 years ago, swimming would move forward by celebrating those who worked the hardest. She said: "This will show people that the best swimmers are those who are training hard, who are fit, instead of maybe those who had a few extra pounds and just stuffed it into the suit."
Asked about the use of asterisks or some other form of delineation in the world-record books, Spofforth said that she would be happy to have her 2009 world record marked aside as “suit enhanced” alongside all other global marks set in shiny suits in 2008 and 2009. There have been 201 world records, long and short, since the launch of the LZR in February 2008
The duel will mark the first time that Spofforth has competed at a major international event in home waters. “I’m really excited by it. It’s going to be fun ... in the States we do duel meets all the time and we have to get up and race no matter what.”
Spofforth is a world champion and record holder, having won the 100m backstroke in Rome back in July. But she has never raced in a big international back in home waters, having missed the FINA World s/c Championships held successfully by Manchester in April 2008.
Spofforth said: "I am really excited to come over and have a home meet and home crowd and I am really excited to see the USA swimmers against the European side. I've not experienced a meet like this at home. I didn't do the World short-course, which I heard was a blast so I am excited to be experiencing that and to race them [in home waters]."
Spofforth has been in Florida since 2006, has won five NCAA titles and raced in more duel meets than she's had hot dinners, such is the nature of the competitive environment that has helped to convert her into a world beater. She has a home Olympic Games coming up but is taking each step at a time: "Hopefully, I will be swimming in front of a home crowd again in 2012. But I've not only got my sights set on that. I am not putting all my eggs in one basket."
The duel format is as follows:
Three Americans versus three Europeans in each of the 40 Olympic events, with a non-Olympic event chosen to decide the meet in case of a tie. The Winner takes all in the relays: seven points for a win, nothing for second, or last, place; in solo events, only "podium placers" get points, with 4th to 6th place resulting in "0"; and if the score is level after 40 races, there will be a 4x50 medley mixed relay with two men and two women from each team on the relay. The winner gets the one decisive, victory point.
More information, including ticket sales, can be found at the British Gas/Mutual of Omaha Duel in the Pool website.
At previous Duels, between the US and Australia, competition has often been close but the US has always come out on top. It is likely to do just that again if Europe's three partners cannot muster their very best crew on the day.
Lochte, Olympic 200m back champion and winner of four golds in Rome, including both medley crowns, had one woprd in mind today: fun. "We [USA] know we have a good group of people going. We have a good team going.
The Duel in the Pool - I've been in many and I think we are going to just go out and have some fun. That's what this meet is about, having fun and racing."
On the suits, he said: "I am comfortable with wearing the same suit as I did at worlds. I am happy to wear banana hammocks (trunks). We are all ready for it. Expect the unexpected. We are all going to be ready no matter what. It will be a challenge and I think we will all be up for it."
As to whether he felt that Britain was on the rise ahead of the London 2012 home Olympic Games, Lochte said: "Yes ...but it's not just Great Britain. It's everyone, everyone is getting a lot faster. The US is watching out for them."
Which is why it engages so willingly with the wider world. And that has long helped the US to stay on top of its game.
Versions of this content appear in The Times, London, and on Times Online.
