U.S. World Champ Team begins competition Sunday

ROME – The U.S. World Championship Team, which includes 23 Olympians, will kick off competition July 26 at the 13th FINA World Championships at Foro Italico in Rome. Among the competitors on the first day of competition will be Olympic gold medalists Michael Phelps (Baltimore, Md.), Dara Torres, Ryan Lochte, Aaron Peirsol and Rebecca Soni.

 

A full schedule is available here. The full roster of athletes, complete with the events in which they will compete, is available here. Fans in the United States can follow all of the action from the World Championships on NBC and Universal Sports. NBC will broadcast the first day of competition on Sunday, July 26 from 12-2 p.m. EDT, as well as the final two days of the meet on August 1 and 2 from 12 – 2 p.m. EDT. Universal Sports will broadcast the remainder of the competition (July 27-July 31) at both 12 p.m. and 7 p.m. EDT. A webcast of the World Championships will also be available online at www.universalsports.com.

 

Captains for the U.S. World Championship Team are Torres and Dana Vollmer on the women’s side, and Perisol and Mark Gangloff on the men’s side. Captains were selected by a team vote at the training camp prior to the start of the competition.

 

Phelps, who is competing fifth World Championships, will compete in three individual events in Rome – the 100m and 200m fly and the 200m free. Phelps owns the world record in each event. “It’s going to be fun,” he said. “I haven’t been racing much this year but I’ve seen some of the guys that I raced last year. There a ton of people at world Championships It’s the best of the best and the people that have swum the fastest this year.”

 

Torres will compete in the 50m free in Rome. She earned a silver medal in the same event at the 2008 Olympics and is the American record-holder in the event. “I’m excited to race, I love to race and compete and I always want to win,” said Torres. “Hopefully, I will give the girls a run for their money. I know they are all swimming fast and they’ve broke some world records so I know everyone is fast and I look forward to swimming against fast swimmers.”

 

The Worlds pool competition begins July 26 and runs through Aug. 2 at the Stadio del Nuoto in Rome.

 

For full coverage of the U.S. World Championship Team while in Rome, visit www.swimnetwork.com, which will have interviews, results and recaps throughout the eight-day competition. For live results, visit www.omegatiming.com. Swimmer Interviews, courtesy of Swimnetwork.com: Click here Tyler Clary talks about his trip to Riccione and the World Championships. Video here Fran Crippen talks about receiving his bronze medal. Video here

 

Quick Quotes

 

Women’s Team Head Coach Sean Hutchison on what to expect from the U.S. Women’s Team in Rome:

“If we perform as well as we trained [in Riccione], we'll be a lot better than we were at the Trials meet. This is kind of the beginning of the cycle for us and we're looking to see new talent and have some great swims and head towards the London Olympics, and hopefully have some surprises in there.”

 

Men’s Team Head Coach Bob Bowman on what to expect from the U.S. Men’s Team in Rome:

“I think our men’s team offers some of the same experienced veterans that we’ve enjoyed having in the past, but we also have some exciting young talent coming up. I think we’re going to have a good balance… We’ve been quite strong leading up to the meet and we’re looking forward to it.”