Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr<\/p>\n
COLORADO SPRINGS – USA Swimming\u2019s roster for next year\u2019s long course world championships does not include Michael Phelps in the wake of his DUI troubles earlier this month<\/a>, as well as his subsequent decision to withdraw from the team.<\/a><\/p>\n Phelps was set to swim the 100 free, 100 fly and 200 IM in Kazan next year. He would have also been a strong choice for all three relay events. He and Tom Shields are tied as the fastest Americans in the 100 fly (51.29) and Phelps is second behind Nathan Adrian in the 100 free with a 48.45. He\u2019s just a couple of hundredths of a second behind Ryan Lochte in the 200 IM with a 1:56.04 from the Pan American Games.<\/p>\n Tim Phillips is the only new addition to the team after Phelps\u2019 withdrawal. Phillips is the third-fastest American this year in the 100 butterfly and will be headed to his first long course world championships.<\/p>\n Ryan Lochte moves into the 100 free individual event. Not only is he the third-fastest American in the event this year, but he\u2019s already on the team in the 200 IM and 200 freestyle. USA Swimming has special procedures for replacing athletes in the 100 and 200 freestyle events, noting that the replacement must be \u201cthe next highest Available Swimmer already on the team.\u201d That\u2019s logical, since that swimmer would already be swimming in the freestyle relay.<\/p>\n Tyler Clary, already on the team in the 200 fly, 200 back and 400 IM, has added the 200 IM to his schedule. With the shift in the 100 freestyle, a sixth person was needed for 400 free relay purposes. That puts Matt Grevers in an alternate spot for the relay. Grevers was already set to swim the 50 fly and 100 back at world championships.<\/p>\n Grevers is one of four Americans on the list who will be defending their 2013 individual world titles. Grevers, Lochte, Missy Franklin and Katie Ledecky won a combined nine gold medals in individual events at the world championships. Franklin will be looking to replicate her six wins from last year in the 200 free, 100 back and 200 back as well as all three relays. Ledecky, who was awarded the Female Swimmer of the Meet in Barcelona last year, set world records in the 800 and 1500 freestyles and won the 400 free and was part of the winning 800 free relay for four gold medals.<\/p>\n Grevers won the 100 back for his first individual world title, while Lochte took his third-straight long course world title in the 200 IM and captured his second 200 back win.<\/p>\n Next year\u2019s meet would have been Phelps\u2019 seventh trip to the long course world championships. He attended every edition from 2001 to 2011, skipping the 2013 event during his brief time away from competition. He\u2019s won 33 medals at the world championships, including 26 gold.<\/p>\n The world championship team was picked from times swum at the summer nationals and the Pan Pacific championships. The two fastest times in the events swum at the Olympics were used, as well as the winning time in the non-Olympic events (50s of the strokes, men\u2019s 800 free and women\u2019s 1500 free) from nationals. The second swimmer for the non-Olympic events was selected from the top performer already selected for the team.<\/p>\n Swimming World’s<\/em> Jeff Commings spoke with USA Swimming National Team Director Frank Busch in Colorado Springs about the selection process and the rosters.<\/p>\n