FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup - Singapore 16-17 October

 

The third leg of the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup takes place in Singapore (16-17 October) with arguably the best field so far this year.

All eyes will be on Natalie Coughlin (USA) who makes her return to short course metre competition. Coughlin has been in good form so far in 2010 and with her world class starts and turns, expect some fast swimming from the American ace. Also representing a strong USA squad will be Jessica Hardy, Randall Bal, Peter Marshall, Julia Smit, Elaine Breeden and Madison Kennedy.

A host of medal winners from the recent Commonwealth Games will also be on show. Australia's team includes medalists Leisel Jones, Marieke Guehrer, Hayden Stoeckel and James Richardson. South Africa are also sending a strong team led by Roland Schoeman, Cameron Van Der Burgh, Lyndon Ferns, Darian Townsend, Graemme Moore and Kathryn Meaklim. Canada's team includes Victoria Poon, Genevieve Saumur and Audrey Lacroix as well as seasoned IM swimmer Brian Johns.

Europe has a number of medal contenders competing with strong challenges likely to come from Therese Alshammer, Stefan Nystrand, Lars Frolander (SWE),Dominik Meichtry (CHE), Steffen Deibler, Dorothea Brandt, Jenny Mensing, Kerstin Vogel (GER), Hanna Maria Seppala (FIN), Hinkelein Schreuder (NED), Arkady Vyatchanin, Grigory Falko and Sergey Fesikov (RUS).

Results & Start Lists - Here
Official Site - Here
For anyone in Singapore - Tickets can be found here

FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup - Beijing

Action gets underway today at the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup 2010 in Beijing. The competition sees the return of international competition to one of the most iconic swimming pools in the world, the watercube.

Fresh from competing at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, South Africa have taken a strong team with their star swimmers Lyndon Ferns, Cameron Van Der Burgh, Roland Schoeman and Darian Townsend all competing. I'm sure they will be hoping for a more straight forward competition after the problems in India with Delhi Belly and the uproar caused by comments by Roland Schoeman, seemingly taken way out of context.

Other stars on display include Thiago Pereira, Guilherme Guido, Henrique Barbosa (BRA), Therese Alshammer, Lars Frolander (SWE), Steffen Deibler, Dorothea Brandt, Jenny Mensing (GER), Elaine Breeden, Peter Marshall, Julia Smit (USA), Arkady Vyatchanin, Grigory Falko, Sergey Fesikov (RUS), Gao Chang, Ye Shiwen (CHN), Hinkelein Schreuder (NED), Naoya Tomita (JAP)

Results & Start Lists - Here

UPDATE - First day finals recap - Here

Top point scorers from Day One
Women - Gao Chang - 50m Backstroke - 26.00 (966 points) Great time! Just missed Sanja Jovanovic' World Record of 25.70. More proof that the change of suits has affected Backstroke less than the other strokes.
Men - Naoya Tomita - 200m Breaststroke - 2:05.30 (893 points) Solid effort from Tomita, however I expect that points total to be beaten tomorrow. In Rio, Thiago Pereira led the men with 969 points for his 1:52.72 200m IM.

A Speed_Endurance Exclusive Start List for 4e OPEN EDF de Natation 2010 - Paris Open & Preview

This year's Paris Open has turned into one of the most anticipated meets of 2010. The lack of a major global competition this year means that this meet represents one of the few chances to see some of the world's best compete head-to-head in LC metres. This is no more apparent than in the men's sprint events.

The event organisers deserve a Toulouse-Lautrec sized 'chapeau' for their ability to draw the world's top male sprinters. Competing this weekend are the French contingent of Fred Bousquet, Alain Bernard, Yannick Agnel and Fabien Gilot, Brazil's sprint sensation Cesar Cielo, South Africa's Roland Schoeman, Trinidad's George Bovell, Italy's Filippo Magnini, Poland's up and coming sprinter Konrad Czerniak and most impressively the American duo of Nathan Adrian and.... wait for it..... Michael Phelps.

Phelps is set to compete in the 100m Free, 200m Free, 200m Butterfly and 200m IM. Whilst it is exciting to see swimming's biggest star race each and every time, especially on foreign soil, it's his decision to go up against the world's best in the 100m Freestyle that is perhaps the biggest talking point. Phelps will have to produce something very special to get the better of the swimmers listed above, especially given his relatively (by Phelps' high standards) slow start to 2010.

The women's events see the French going up a small but strong Dutch, British and American contingent. Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Femke Heemskerk and Hinkelien Schreuder head up Holland's challenge with Elizabeth Simmonds and Francesca Halsall representing Britain's interest. The US women include Allison Schmitt, Felicia Lee and Elizabeth Pelton with more international star power being added by Sweden's Therese Alshammar, Romania's Camelia Potec and Serbia's Nadia Higl.

The French will be looking to Camille Muffat, Coralie Balmy, Alexianne Castel and Aurore Mongel to fend off their international challengers.

Start List here (speed_endurance exclusive)

Results will appear here

Predictions

Women

Women

50m Free

1. Ranomi Kromowidjojo
2. Hinkelien Schreuder
3. Femke Heemskerk

100m Free

1. Ranomi Kromowidjojo
2. Francesca Hansall
3. Femke Heemskerk

200m Free

1. Camille Muffat
2. Femke Heemskerk
3. Allison Schmitt

400m Free

1. Camille Muffat
2. Coralie Balmy
3. Allison Schmitt

800m Free

1. Camelia Potec
2. Grainne Murphy
3. Nuala Murphy

50m Back

1. Elizabeth Simmonds
2. Theodora Drakou
3. Alexianne Castel

100m Back

1. Elizabeth Simmonds
2. Alexianne Castel
3. Elizabeth Pelton

200m Back

1. Elizabeth Simmonds
2. Elizabeth Pelton
3. Alexianne Castel

50m Breast

1. Moniek Nijhuis
2. Maria Michalaka
3. Kate Haywood

100m Breast

1. Nadja Higl
2. Moniek Nijhuis
3. Maria Michalaka

200m Breast

1. Nadja Higl
2. Alena Alexeeva
3. Fanny Babou

50m Fly

1. Therese Alshammar
2. Francesca Halsall
3. Melanie Henique

100m Fly

1. Francesca Halsall
2. Aurore Mongel
3. Kim Vanderberg

200m Fly

1. Aurore Mongel
2. Lara Grangeon
3. Francesca Segat

200m IM

1. Camille Muffat
2. Lara Grangeon
3. Francesca Segat

400m IM

1. Grainne Murphy
2. Lara Grangeon
3. Francesca Segat

Predictions

Men

50m Free

1. Fred Bousquet
2. Cesar Cielo
3. Alain Bernard

100m Free

1. Alain Bernard
2. Cesar Cielo
3. Michael Phelps

200m Free

1. Michael Phelps
2. Yannick Agnel (Phelps v Agnel is the race I want to see above all others)
3. Sebastaian Verschuren

400m Free

1. Sebastien Rouault
2. Federico Colbertaldo
3. Massimiliano Rosolino

1500m Free

1. Sebastien Rouault
2. Federico Colbertaldo
3. Anthony Pannier

50m Back

1. Liam Tancock
2. Camille Lacourt
3. Randall Bal

100m Back

1. Liam Tancock
2. Camille Lacourt
3. Jeremy Stravius

200m Back

1. Eric Ress
2. Nick Driebergen
3. Aristeidis Grigoriadis

50m Breast

1. Lennart Stekelenburg
2. Fabio Scozzoli
3. Alessandro Terrin

100m Breast

1. Hugues Duboscq
2. Alexander Dale Oen
3. Fabio Scozzoli

200m Breast

1. Hugues Duboscq
2. Scott Spann
3. Alexander Dale Oen

50m Fly

1. Fred Bousquet
2. Roland Schoeman
3. Konrad Czerniak

100m Fly

1. Konrad Czerniak
2. Joeri Verlinden
3. Albert Subirats

200m Fly

1. Michael Phelps
2. Dinko Jukic
3. Stefanos Dimitriadis

200m IM

1. Michael Phelps
2. Dinko Jukic
3. Todd Patrick

400m IM

1. Dinko Jukic
2. Sebastien Rouault
3. Anthony Pannier