The Pan Pacific Championships get underway in Irvine, California with a first session of heats that features a Phelpsless 200m freestyle for men, while a straight 1,500m final on the first evening offers a glimpse into the cauldron of 30-lappers, with Olympic champion Ousamma Mellouli (TUN) surrounded by danger on all sides.
Michael Phelps will concentrate on the 200m butterfly in a battle with Nick D'Arcy (AUS) and others, while the freestyle fight comes down, among others, to Kendrick Monk(AUS), Sho Uchida (JPN), Ryan Lochte (USA), Peter Vanderkaay (USA) and Olympic 400m champion Ta Hwan Park (KOR).
Some great racing across the board in store today, including:
Men:
- 100m backstroke: Olympic champion Aaron Peirsol (USA) and David Plummer (USA) Vs Ashley Delany (AUS) and teammates.
Women
- 200m free: Dana Vollmer, Katie Hoff and Allison Schnitt Vs Bronte Barratt, Katie Goldman and Kylie Palmer
- 100m backstroke: Olympic champion Natalie Coughlin (USA) Vs world No1 in 2010, Emily Seebohm (AUS).
- 200m butterfly: Jessica Schipper, world champion, Vs Natsumi Hoshi (JPN).
In a straight final in the evening, the 800m frees for women features a battle between Australians Blair Evans and Katie Goldman and Americans Chloe Sutton and 2007 world champion Kate Ziegler.
And the men's 1,500m? What a race in prospect - in lane order:
- 1 Sean Ryan (USA)
- 2 Zhang Lin (CHN)
- 3 Chad La Tourette (USA)
- 4 Ousamma Mellouli (TUN)
- 5 Park Tae Hwan (KOR)
- 6 Ryan Cochrane (CAN)
- 7 Robert Hurley (AUS)
- 8 Junpei Higashi (JPN)
