The 2nd edition of the wildly popular Fast Lane meet in Brazil has been set for September 29th, 2013 at the Julio Delamare Aquatic Park in Rio de Janeiro.
This meet will once again pit four swimmers from the USA, Australia, France, and Brazil together,according to Brazil’s Blog do Coach, in battles of the 50 back, 50 breast, 50 fly, 50 free, and a 200 meter medley relay.
The format will be tweaked a little this year. In the individual races, which feature one swimmer from each country, there will be a bracket format. The slowest swimmer will be eliminated in round 1, then the same in round 2, until round 3 has a head-to-head shootout for the final.
In 2012, the American group of Adam Mania, Mike Alexandrov, Eugene Godsoe, and Josh Schneider topped an Australian group of Daniel Arnamnart, Matthew Abood, Matt Targett, and James Magnussen in the final. The format last year had more of a team-versus-team approach, where the opening round was a head-to-head battle between pairs of teams, with the winners advancing to a 5-swim, head-to-head final.
Alex Pussieldi’s blog post announced the Australian and French Rosters for this year’s event.
THE AUSTRALIAN TEAM is without James Magnuessen, but breaststroker, Christian Sprenger will be swimming in the meet. Along with Sprenger will be backstroker Daniel Arnamnart, butterflier Matt Targett, and freestyler Matt Abood.
Daniel Arnamnart is the only swimmer who was not on the World Championship Team in Barcelona. He broke 25 seconds in the 50 back for the first time at the Australian Championships with 24:90 and is ranked 16th in the world.
Christian Sprenger won the 100 breast in Barcelona with 58:79 and was second in the 50 breast with 26:78, breaking the Oceanic record.
In the 50 butterfly, Matt Targett, has been among the best in the world in this event since 2010. In Barcelona, he finished 13th with 23:39 but his best this year is 23:20 from the Australian Championships.
Sprinter Matt Abood, who took 11th place in the 50 free in Barcelona 21:91, is the final member of the team. At the World Championships, he had his best time with 21:84, and leaves him ranked 11th in the world this year.
THE FRENCH TEAM features Olympic champion Florent Manaudou for the second edition of Raia Rapida, but this time he will swim backstroke. The French team will not have the 50 backstroke champion, Camille Lacourt who recently moved to Australia.
The French who last year were surprised by the Americans in the first round, and will have Giacomo Dortogna in the 50 breast, Fred Bousquet in the 50 butterfly, and Fabien Gilot in the 50 free.
Manaudou is 24:95 in the 50 back, with the 18th fastest time in the world this year.
Dortogna finished 22nd in the 50 breast at the World Championships in Barcelona with his time of 27.78. Bousquet was a medalist in the 50 butterfly; he finished with bronze in 23:11 behind Cesar Cielo and American Eugene Godsoe.
Fabien Gillot, who finished 7th in the 100 freestyle in Barcelona with a time of 48.33, will close the relay.
The Americans are returning the same team from last year.
The announcement of the teams for this made-for-tv event, run by Brazil’s Globo who will broadcast the event, will be announced in the next few days.