Impressive European Duel in the Pool Roster Released

Posted on December 7, 2011, in Events, International Coverage, International News, Meet Previews/Results, National, National News, News, US/National Meet Coverage, with 19 Comments
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For the first time ever, the Americans’ opponents in the Duel in the Pool series might have put together a roster that could challenge the yanks’ perfect record.

The European All Stars’ lineup includes four 2011 World Champions (Aleksandra Herasimenia, Jeanette Ottesen, Lotte Friis, and Daniel Gyurta), and a slew of others who have shown up on World Championship medal stands in past years(Katinka Hosszu, Fran Hasall, Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Elizabeth Simmonds, Gemma Spofforth, and Laszlo Cseh.

Altogether, 18 different countries will be representing the Old Continent in their matchup against the best in the United States. (See the American roster here).

The European women seem to have more firepower than the men, though there are plenty of names on the men’s side. The All-Stars’ women should dominate the relays – consider a 400 free relay made up of Halsall, Kromowidjojo, Herasimenia, and Ottesen. Until Sarah Sjotstrom’s swim last week, those were the top 4 100 freestylers in the world this year.

The men are pringing a great middle-to-distance freestyle group, including Gergo Kis, Pal Joensen, Mads Glaesner, and Dominik Meitchtry.

The biggest weaknesses are in the men’s sprint groups (led by Adam brown and Vlad Morozov), and the women’s breaststrokes (things are pretty thin after Moller-Pedersen, though Nijhuis is improving). The downfall of this European roster might be that they aren’t all that well-balanced. They have big concentrations of swimmers, especially on the men’s side with four very similar distance freestylers, and a lot of IM’ers, but not much depth in the other events.

This squad should give the United States a good run for their money in a week in Atlanta, though.

Men’s Roster (22)

Name	Country
Peter Bernek	Hungary
Bence Biczo	Hungary
Adam Brown	Great Britain
Laszlo Cseh	Hungary
Konrad Czerniak	Poland
Mads Glaesner	Denmark
Daniel Gyurta	Hungary
Francois Heersbrandt	Belgium
Pal Joensen	Faroe Islands
Dinko Jukic	Austria
Radoslaw Kawecki	Poland
Gergo Kis	Hungary
Pawel Korzeniowski	Poland
Marco Loughran	Great Britian
Dominik Meichtry	Switzerland
Vladimir Morozov	Russia
Robbie Renwick	Great Britain
Markus Rogan	Austria
Krisztian Takacs	Hungary
Giedrius Titenis	Lithuania
David Verraszto	Hungary
Christian vom Lehn	Germany

Women’s Roster (19)

Name	Country
Lotte Friis	Denmark
Anna Martina Granstroem	Sweden
Francesca Halsall	Great Britain
Aleksandra Herasimenia	Belarus
Katinka Hosszu	Hungary
Zsuzsanna Jakabos	Hungary
Anja Klinar	Slovenia
Ranomi Kromowidjojo	Netherlands
Rikke Moller Pedersen	Denmark
Grainne Murphy	Ireland
Moniek Nijhuis	Netherlands
Jeanette Ottesen	Denmark
Elizabeth Simmonds	Great Britain
Gemma Spofforth	Great Britain
Marleen Veldhuis	Netherlands
Evelyn Verraszto	Hungary
Sharon von Rouwendaal	Netherlands
Barbora Zavadova	Czech Republic
Daryna Zevina	Ukraine

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19 Comments

Jack

12.07.2011 · Reply

Great team! Cant wait for this. I agree about the women's roster being stronger than the men's. My only worry for the European women is, like the men there in not a great depth of Swimmers! Distance for example, After Murphy & Friis who is there? Surely either Pellegrini, Muffat, Adlington or any other swimmer could have come along. However, they have the foundation of a team that could take many 1st places in Freestyles,Butterfly's and Herasimenia is a superb sprint backstroker. Looks exciting!
Ed O'Connor

12.07.2011 · Reply

Grannie Murphy is from Ireland not Great Britian.
emilyr

12.07.2011 · Reply

darn the euros looks like they really mean business this time round w/that womens 400 fr relay lineup lol (dont forget Marleen as another option there!)... Missy, Natalie & Dana had better step up their game haha, and Jessica or Amanda ready to really bring it on :P hey im not TOO worried bout Missy or Nat when it comes to the back races tho... but w/the likes of Liz Simmonds, Daryna, Sharon, Gemma (if rested) around to challenge (n throw in Aliaksandra in the sprint backs as Jack had mentioned), wont be that easy 4 them or the 2 Elizabeths!
me262

12.07.2011 · Reply

25% of the Euro team is from Hungary?.... and a notorious lack of participation from France, Germany, and Italy. Healthy participation from GB and Netherlands.
John26

12.07.2011 · Reply

From the looks of it, the Euro men seem to have an advantage in the fly and breast strokes, the Americans seem to be better on the free and back. I think the Americans will pull a victory in this. On the womens side I could see some events where the Europeans would dominate the podium except for Missy Franklin. It'll definitely be very interesting seeing how things will play out.
nostradamus

12.07.2011 · Reply

Any guesses for the A relays from the Euro side?
Jack

12.07.2011 · Reply

Nostradamus...Great topic! I have no doubt that Europe SHOULD swim Halsall-Ottesen-Herasimenia-Kromowidjojo on the 4x100FR, depending on form though Veldhuis or Verraszto could come in. (People forget Evelyn is a 53.7 swimmer. For the Medley! I would go Simmonds-Pedersen-Halsall-Kromowidjojo (Again, people forget Halsall is the best sprint Flyer in this squad due to her Free exploits.
eurosports

12.07.2011 · Reply

The outcome may be impacted by how many of these swimmers from both sides will be rested, tapered etc. Will the USA take this seriously enough that they'll get someone like Lochte to at least partially rest if not fully tapered? Several participants will be coming off Euro S/C the week before, so keep this all in mind!
- Braden Keith
  
  12.07.2011 · Reply
  
  What the Gators will do is going to be a huge question. The American coaching staff was asking for at least a "rest" from their swimmers. With that in mind, have to wonder if Spofforth's inclusion was a special request by Troy, because when Florida is in heavy training, they're pretty bad. (Lochte gets a pass because of his star power on TV). I bet that they'll all be at least rested, even the Gator Swim Club. I think Jack's list is probably right for the women. Men's medley might be - Loughran, Gyurta, Czerniak and Morozov? Europeans are thin on men's backstrokers too. Cseh could probably lead it off too. Am I missing someone obvious? Cseh could swim fly as well, though Czerniak was better in short course last year.
bobo gigi

12.08.2011 · Reply

I know Vlad Morozow swims for Russia but I had understood that he wanted to swim for USA after 2012. It's a little surprising to swim against USA for someone who wants to represent USA in the future. The men's roster looks very slow compared to the women's roster. USA will destroy this team. I don't understand why my country, France, doesn't participate. They prefer european championships. I think they don't want to show their cards in sprint events against americans. But for me it's a bad decision. The women's roster is really good in all strokes and american women will have more work to do than the men. But you have a dream team on the women's side and if everyone is on top they will win many races with perhaps some world records. I like your 4X100m medley relay with Natalie Coughlin, Rebecca Soni, Dana Vollmer and Missy Franklin. It's difficult to find better.
gosharks

12.08.2011 · Reply

I think Lochte was allegedly "not fully tapered/rested" for SC Worlds last December and clearly he swam well and it didn't affect his performance the next summer, so I kind of have a feeling he will be fast. But I have no inside info. Women's 400 MR world record is falling.
Jack

12.08.2011 · Reply

gosharks, spot on about Lochte and the MR. I would not be shocked by the 400FR relay going to Europe either. However, it would not be a WR so...damn!
bobo gigi

12.08.2011 · Reply

Ok, it's Vlad Morozov. It seems nobody wants to answer me about him. So I repeat again my question. Does he always want to swim for USA after 2012? It would be a major piece for american sprint in the future.
bobo gigi

12.08.2011 · Reply

I don't know which events Missy will swim, but in two days 100 free, 200 free, 100 back, 200 back, 4X100 free relay and 4X100 medley relay, it's perhaps a little too much. I think 100 back is a question. Because to swim with Natalie Coughlin in the same race in short course for Missy with her weak underwaters will be very hard and she can lose by a big margin. I know it will not be the same story in long course but it wouldn't be a good thing with the trials on her mind. From another side she can follow her to beat easily her PB. In Todd Schmitz we trust.
- Braden Keith
  
  12.08.2011 · Reply
  
  bobo - As for Vlad, I haven't heard anything to indicate he's decided to stay Russian. If anything, the further he gets into the Russian team and has to hop back and forth from Europe, and realizes how that hurts his training, it seems like it woul bd even more of a reason to switch. As for Missy, it's acutally "in coach Bauerle we trust" because it's the team coaches who are choosing the event lineups. Don't be surprised, since the event is designed for TV, if you see the stars like Missy and Lochte swim a lot of events, especially in short course (where it's arguably easier to load up). Look at what they do at the World Cup meets for example. Doing three events in a day isn't exactly new to Franklin, though. Remember that this is a team event, so as much as we outsiders see it as "Natlie versus Missy," they see it as "Natalie and Missy versus Gemma and Elizabeth".
Jack

12.08.2011 · Reply

The European men's weak sprint has been improved a little, Czerniak went to of the SC world rankings tonight on the 50fr! And Kawecki top of the 200bk rankings. Most of the men in the Euro squad are putting up strong times in Szczecin. keep it up.
bobo gigi

12.09.2011 · Reply

Braden, thank you for your answer about Vlad Morozov. I like this story. A russian who wants to swim for USA. It might be a major piece for american sprint in the future which, with the exception of Nathan Adrian, is today very bad. Even if he must prove he's fast in long course. I think your national coach on the men's side would have prefered to have him next year on the american team. In your 4X100 free relay you have 3 big stars with Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte and Nathan Adrian. But who will be the fourth? I can tell you France will have 4 big men who can swim 48 low or under, Australia will have them too. I think this fourth man is the key for your relay. I have 3 swimmers on my mind with Garrett Weber-Gale, Jimmy Feigen and David Nolan. If he was focus on the 100 free, which isn't the case, David Nolan might be a James Magnussen like. From unknown internationally to sub 48. I think he has the talent for but he trains for another events.
bobo gigi

12.09.2011 · Reply

And for Duel in the Pool, I understand it's a fun meet and a team event but TV hasn't to choice who swims. And I don't think it would be a good thing for Missy to lose by a big margin, even if short course isn't her speciality. Don't forget Natalie is her idol. And I'm interesting to see future races between them. Missy will have to kill her next year in the pool and she must forget the fan's side.
emilyr

12.13.2011 · Reply

well the list of events has been published by USA Swimming: Friday, Dec. 16 400m Medley Relay 400m IM 100m Free 200m Back 200m Breast 100m Fly 400m Free Saturday, Dec. 17 800m Free 100m Back 100m Breast 200m Fly 50m Free 200m IM 400m Free Relay looking forward to Braden's analysis of how this schedule might affect swimmers from both teams :) also looks like Ryan may be in the middle of Xmas training as are some others (Dagny?), so im expecting the e-stars to surprise a few... Tom W has already made predictions for the men on his site...