6 storylines to watch, all the links you need for the 2014 European Championships

2014 LEN European Swimming Championships

• Wednesday, August 13-Sunday, August 24, 2014 (pool swimming Monday, 8/18-Sunday 8/24)
• The Velodrom, Berlin, Germany
• Local time: Prelims 9:30am, Finals 6pm (Monday-Thursday), 4pm (Friday-Sunday)
• Meet website
• Event schedule
• Live stream
• Live results

Start times around the world

Local time: Berlin Germany (UTC+2). Prelims 9:30/Finals 6pm Mon-Thurs, 4pm Fri-Sun.
Others at local time: Paris, France; Rome, Italy; Stockholm, Sweden; Oslo, Norway; Cape Town, South Africa.

Event-by-Event previews

Women

• Sprint free
• 200/400 free
• Distance free
• Backstroke
• Butterfly
• Breaststroke
• IM

Men

• Sprint free
• 200/400 free
• Distance free
• Backstroke
• Butterfly
• Breaststroke
• IM

6 Storylines to Watch

1. The British are Coming: British Swimming as a whole was perhaps the storyline of the Commonwealth Games. Between the big breakout swims from England, especially on the men’s side, to the big performances of Team Scotland on its home turf to the meet climax medley relay win for England over Australia, the news out of Glasgow was dominated by the Brits. Now the individual UK countries recombine into one team (Scotland, Wales, England and Ireland all swam separately at Commonwealths) and the team will get to see if it can repeat its headline performances against the whole of Europe. Particularly in the spotlight will be breaststroker Adam Peaty and backstroker Chris Walker-Hebborn, each of whom had outstanding Commonwealth meets to break out on the international stage.

2. Superhuman speed from Sarah Sjostrom: Few races this year have been talked about as much as Sarah Sjostrom’s world record-breaking performance in the 50 fly earlier this summer. The Swede didn’t just break the world mark, she obliterated it, taking sprint butterflying near sprint freestyle territory in terms of time. Sjostrom will be a factor in a number of sprint races this coming week, including the 50 and 100 fly and 50 and 100 frees.

3. What will the event lineup look like for the Iron Lady? Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu has developed a world-wide reputation for taking on brutal event lineups. She tends to swim nearly every event on meet days, especially in meets where big money is on the line. She’s tough enough (and incredibly versatile enough) to make quite a living doing that, cashing in some monster checks after last year’s World Cup circuit. But how much will she specialize in Berlin, with European titles on the line and the competition some of the toughest it’ll get? Hosszu is clearly a factor in both IMs and the 200 fly, but it’ll be interesting to see how much she loads up the rest of her event lineup and how much those other events affect her status in those big three, where she’s the defending European Champion.

4. Fresh blood rising to the surface in glaring breaststroke absences: Some of the biggest names in the breaststroke races will be no-shows in Berlin. Lithuanian teenager Ruta Meilutyte isn’t competing in Berlin, choosing to attend the Youth Olympic Games in China instead. Russian speedster Yulia Efimova is still serving a suspension after a positive drug test last year. Hungarian icon Daniel Gyurta is sitting out of his signature race, the 200 breast, instead focusing on his speed for the summer before picking the race back up in the fall. All these absences mean young swimmers will all have an opportunity to rise to the top. One name to watch might be Great Britain’s Peaty, who’s beginning to really show up in crunch time. 200 breast world record-holder Rikke Moller Pedersen is still around, as is German 200 stud Marco Koch, and watch for some new names to join them near the top this summer.

5. Statement swim from Lotte Friis? Though the female distance landscape is at the moment dominated by American Katie Ledecky, Denmark’s Lotte Friis is another elite young talent in the world right now who’s often pushed below the radar. Ledecky broke the world record in this event over the summer and has to be considered an early favorite for next year’s World Championships, but if there’s one swimmer who could at least make the race interesting, it’s likely Friis. She’s spent the year training at the storied North Baltimore Aquatic Club in the United States, and at Euros she’ll get a chance to show off the new skills she’s learned from her star-studded training partners.

6. Don’t forget about Yannick Agnel: Speaking of North Baltimore, one of its most famous members will be taking the pool in Berlin after a relatively quiet summer. French freestyle sensation Yannick Agnel has been in Baltimore, training with legendary coach Bob Bowman (and of course swimming legend Michael Phelps). He won dual titles at French Nationals back in April, but hasn’t grabbed headlines in awhile, so the uber-talented Frenchman should be well-rested and could pop off some major times this week.