This is the Swim Poll of the Week for Wednesday, August 17, 2022, sponsored by Strechcordz Swim Training Products. In our last poll, we wanted to know: Which country will win the upcoming Duel in the Pool?
The Duel in the Pool originated in 2003 as a friendly competition between the United States and Australia, and the Americans won the first three iterations of the event. After that, the Duel continued with Australia and Japan facing off once and the U.S. swimming against a team of European All-Stars on four different occasions. Now, the original matchup between the world’s foremost swimming powers will take place this weekend in Sydney, and the event will include pool swimmers, multi-class para swimmers and open water swimmers racing some traditional events plus some unique events.
Australia’s team will feature two swimmers who won multiple individual Olympic gold medals last year, sprinter Emma McKeon and backstroker Kaylee McKeown, while world champions Zac Stubblety-Cook and Mollie O’Callaghan are also scheduled to appear. The American squad, meanwhile features 400 IM Olympic champion Chase Kalisz and fellow Olympians Michael Andrew, Annie Lazor, Bella Sims and Ryan Held, but the group is missing some established stars, which has allowed some new faces to make their international debuts.
The competition begins with an open water event Friday before pool action takes place Saturday and Sunday. Full meet information can be found here.
Swim Poll of the Week: Which country will win the upcoming Duel in the Pool?
Australia — 61%
United States — 39%