USA Swimming has announced the roster for the upcoming Duel in the Pool.
A total of 27 athletes and five coaches will represent the U.S. at the meet, which will take place August 19-21 in Sydney, Australia.
The Duel in the Pool team is led by veteran Olympians Chase Kalisz (Bel Air, Md./Athens Bulldog Swim Club), Annie Lazor (Beverly Hills, Mich./Indiana Swim Club/Mission Viejo Nadadores), Michael Andrew (Encinitas, Calif./MA Swim Academy), Bella Sims (Las Vegas, Nev./Sandpipers of Nevada) and Ryan Held (Springfield, Ill./NYAC/Sun Devil Swimming). The team also features nine swimmers who competed at last month’s FINA World Championships and combined for 16 medals at the competition.
Multiple U.S. National Team and U.S. National Junior Team members will be making their long-course meter, international debut for the U.S. with their appearances at the Duel in the Pool, including Justina Kozan (Brea, Calif./Mission Viejo Nadadores), David Curtiss (Yardley, Pa./Hamilton Y Aquatic Club/NC State), Linnea Mack (San Jose, Calif./Team Elite) and others.
For the first time, U.S. Paralympics Swimming athletes will be included in the Duel in the Pool. Six-time Paralympic medalist and reigning 400-meter freestyle S7 Paralympic champion McKenzie Coan (Clarkesville, Ga./Loyola University Maryland) will be joined by three-time Paralympic medalist Lizzi Smith (Muncie, Ind./Western Hills Aquatic Club), Paralympic bronze medalist Jamal Hill (Inglewood, Calif./Golden Rebel Aquatics) and national team member Noah Jaffe (Carlsbad, Calif./North Coast Aquatics). Coan, Smith and Hill all recently won medals at the 2022 Para Swim World Championships in Madeira, Portugal.
The U.S. team for the Duel in the Pool will be led by head coach Dave Salo (Irvine Novaquatics) and assistant coaches Herbie
Behm (Arizona State University) and Katie Robinson (Northwestern). Nineteen-time Paralympic
medalist Erin Popovich and Laura Becherer will lead the adaptive athletes at the meet in the roles of
Director, U.S. Paralympics Swimming and coach, respectively. Aaron Peirsol will also accompany the roster as team captain.
The competition takes place August 19-21 in Sydney, Australia. Pool events will be contested at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre while the open water events will be at Bondi Beach.
The Duel in the Pool competition was established in 2003 as the United States against Australia before broadening to the United States versus Europe in 2009. This year’s event will be the first rendition of the competition since 2015.
Wondering what’s going on with Caeleb. Hope he is well.