Streamlined News

PHOENIX, Arizona, November 1. IN the scheme of things, the World Cup meets are not high on the scale of importance on the swimming calendar, but most of the world media is treating this weekend’s Singapore stop as if it were the Olympics.

That’s because the meet will feature the official return of Ian Thorpe to competitive swimming after five years away. Thorpe told the media throng that met him at the Singapore airport yesterday that he’s excited about competing again, and that everything points to the Australian Olympic Trials in March. There’s one hitch to this comeback meet for Thorpe. He’s announced that he’s only swimming two events, and they will be the 100 IM and 100 butterfly, not the 100 and 200 freestyles as expected.

Natalie Coughlin, Josh Schneider, Nick Thoman and Cullen Jones are competing internationally this week, making the trip to Genoa to compete in a one-day short course meters meet there featuring 100s of the strokes, 200 IM and 400 free. Coughlin qualified first in the 100 back for tonight’s finals and will be second seeded in the 100 free behind Femke Heemskerk of the Netherlands. Jones will be in the final of the 100 free, with Schneider just missing the final. Thoman will be the top seed in tonight’s 100 back final, just ahead of world champion Camille Lacourt of France, and former world record holder Randall Bal, who hasn’t swum a meet in the United States since 2009, is back in the pool and will be in the 100 back final today as well. The 400 freestyle was swum as a timed final, and Yannick Agnel and Camille Muffat of France both won the event for the Olympic Club in Nice. We’ll bring you a recap of the day’s competition on swimmingworld.com.

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