COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado, June 11. WITH a quartet of 2013 national champions headlining the selections, USA Swimming today announced its open water roster for July's FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, as well as the open water team for next month's World University Games in Kazan, Russia.
The women's lineup for the World Championships features 2012 Olympic silver medalist Haley Anderson (Granite Bay, Calif.), 2010 world champion Eva Fabian (Keene, N.H.), Christine Jennings (Longmont, Colo.) and Becca Mann (Saint Petersburg, Ill.).
2012 Olympians Andrew Gemmell (Wilmington, Del.) and Alex Meyer (Ithaca, N.Y.), as well as Sean Ryan (Chattanooga, Tenn.) and Jordan Wilimovsky (Malibu, Calif.), comprise the U.S. men's roster for Worlds. A complete roster is available at usaswimming.org.
The FINA World Championships open water action is slated for July 20-27 at Barcelona's Moll de la Fusta.
At Worlds, Jennings will swim the 10- and 25-kilometer events, while Mann will contest the 5k and 10k. Anderson and Fabian will compete in the 5k and 25k, respectively. Meyer will double up in the 10k and 25k for the men, as will Ryan in the 5k and 10k. Gemmell will swim the 5k, and Wilimovsky will tackle the 25k.
The 2013 World Championships team is a veteran group, as Anderson, Fabian and Jennings on the women's side; and Gemmell, Meyer and Ryan for the men were also members of the U.S. team for the 2011 FINA World Championships in China. Mann and Wilimovsky will make their World Championship debuts.
All eight swimmers qualified based on their performances at last month's USA Swimming Open Water Swimming National Championships in Santa Clarita, Calif. Jennings and Meyer were victorious in the 10k event, while Anderson and Gemmell claimed the 5k titles.
The U.S. open water coaching staff for the 2013 FINA World Championships features head coach Catherine Vogt (Redondo Beach, Calif.) and assistant Grant Holicky (Boulder, Colo.).
The open water portion of the 2013 FINA World Championships opens July 20 with the 5k and concludes July 27 with the 25k. Complete event information is available at bcn2013.com.
The U.S. open water roster for the World University Games consists of Emily Brunemann (University of Michigan; Crescent Springs, Ky.), Ryan Feeley (University of Michigan; Rye, N.Y.), Joey Pedraza (University of Florida, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) and Ashley Twichell (Duke University, Fayetteville, N.Y.). A complete roster is available at usaswimming.org.
All four swimmers will compete in the July 17 10k event at the Games' Rowing Center in Kazan, Russia. The athletes qualified for the World University Games roster based on their 10k performances at 2013 Open Water Nationals.
Brunemann and Twichell were fourth and fifth in the women's race, while Pedraza and Feeley placed fifth and seventh, respectively, on the men's side.
University of Michigan associate head coach Josh White (Ann Arbor, Mich.) will serve as the team's head coach.
Taking place every two years, the World University Games are an international multisport event organized for university athletes by the International Sports Federation. All athletes selected for the team must be at least 17 years old and under 28 years old on Jan. 1, 2013. For more information about the 2013 World University Games in Kazan, Russia, please visit the Games' website.
Complete selection procedures for the 2013 FINA World Championships and World University Games roster are available at usaswimming.org.
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