Olympians Win Distance And Sprint Events On Day 1 Of The 2007 Missouri Grand Prix Swim Meet
Michael Phelps Smashes World Record On Day 2 Of The Missouri Toyota Grand Prix Swim Meet
Natalie Coughlin Sets U.S. Open Record On Day 3 Of Missouri Grand Prix Swim Meet
The swim meet preview...
More than half of the 2007 World Championship swim team and a total of 21 American Olympic swimmers are expected to compete at the Missouri Grand Prix, Feb. 16-19 at the Mizzou Aquatic Center in Columbia, Mo. The third stop in the Toyota Grand Prix Swimming Series, it is the last major swim competition before Team USA heads to Melbourne for the 2007 FINA World Swimming Championships, March 18-April 1 in Melbourne, Australia.The World Championships is considered the top international swimming competition in the world outside of the Olympic Games, and this meet will be the best indicator of the stars to watch in 2008. Twenty-two members of the 2003 World Championship squad went on to make the 2004 Olympic Team.
Eight-time Olympic medalist Michael Phelps (Baltimore, Md. / Club Wolverine) and five-time Olympic medalist Natalie Coughlin (Vallejo, Calif. / Cal Aquatics) headline the Grand Prix field. Phelps and Coughlin both kicked off the Toyota Grand Prix Series with impressive performances in Long Beach, Calif., in January. Phelps claimed four victories, and Coughlin captured gold medals in five events.
The Texas trio of Aaron Peirsol (Irvine, Calif. / Longhorn), Brendan Hansen (Havertown, Pa. / Longhorn) and Ian Crocker (Portland, Maine / Longhorn), will also use this meet as a tune-up before the World Championships. Peirsol, Hansen and Crocker all hold individual world records in their specialty events, and all three were individual gold medalists at the 2005 World Championships in Montreal. Olympian Katie Hoff (Towson, Md. / North Baltimore), who captured three gold medals at the 2005 event, is also expected to compete.
The Missouri Grand Prix Swim Meet will also feature relay world-record holders Cullen Jones (New Brunswick, N.J. / NC State Aquatics) and Neil Walker (Verona, Wis. / Longhorn). In addition to Phelps, both Jones and Walker were members of the 4x100m freestyle relay that set the world record at the 2006 Mutual of Omaha Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in September.
- Twenty-one American Olympic Swimmers are expected to compete, including: Maritza Correia, Natalie Coughlin, Ian Crocker, Mark Gangloff, Brendan Hansen, Katie Hoff, Margaret Hoelzer, Rhi Jeffrey, Megan Jendrick, Kalyn Keller, Klete Keller, Ryan Lochte, Aaron Peirsol, Michael Phelps, Kaitlin Sandeno, Scott Usher, Peter Vanderkaay, Erik Vendt, Allison Wagner, Amanda Weir, Neil Walker.
- At least 23 swimmers from the 2007 World Championships swim team will be in Columbia. In addition to the majority of the Olympians above, other swimmers include: Elizabeth Beisel, Mary DeScenza, Cullen Jones, Ariana Kukors, Eric Shanteau, Davis Tarwater, Kim Vandenberg.
- A complete event psych sheet, heat sheets, and results will be available in USA Swimming's 2007 Toyota Grand Prix Series: Missouri section.
- The Missouri Grand Prix is the third stop in the Toyota Grand Prix Series and the last major event before the 2007 World Swimming Championships in Melbourne, Australia. The event format is long course meters (the Olympic distance).
- It is February 16-19, 2007. Prelims will begin at 9 a.m., with finals starting at 5:30 p.m. (There will not be a prelims session on Friday, Feb. 16; finals will begin at 6 p.m.).
- The meet site is the Mizzou Aquatic Center at the University of Missouri Student Recreation Complex in Columbia, Mo. Follow the link for a map to the pool. Parking is available in the Virginia Avenue garage located adjacent to the Student Recreation Complex.
- The Toyota Grand Prix Series exists in order to provide U.S. National Team and other elite swimmers with the opportunity to compete at a high level and prepare for the championship period of the season. There are seven stops total on the 2007 calendar.
- The field will prominently feature potential stars of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team, including veterans Phelps, Hansen, Coughlin, Peirsol, Sandeno and Crocker, as well as more than half of the 2007 World Championships team.
- National Team athletes will be preparing for three major international meets in 2007, including: FINA World Championships (March 18-April 1; Melbourne, Australia), Pan American Games (July 14-21; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and World University Games (August 12-17; Bangkok, Thailand).
About USA Swimming: As the National Governing Body for competitive swimming in the United States, USA Swimming formulates the rules, implements policies and procedures, conducts national championships, disseminates safety and sports medicine information and selects athletes to represent the United States in international competition. USA Swimming has more than 300,000 members nationwide and sanctions more than 7,000 events each year. For more information, visit USA Swimming.
