5 Storylines To Watch, All The Links You Need For 2015 PSS Minneapolis

The 2015-16 Arena Pro Swim Series kicks off this week in Minneapolis, with action starting on Thursday. We’ve pulled together 5 major story lines to watch, plus links and event orders to get you ready for it all.

2015 ARENA PRO SWIM SERIES MINNEAPOLIS

• Thursday, November 12th – Saturday, November 14th
• University of Minnesota Aquatic Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Prelims at 9am Central/10am Eastern & Finals at 6pm Central/7pm Eastern
• Psych sheets
• Live results (link will be posted here)

ORDER OF EVENTS

Thursday

• 200 freestyle
• 100 breaststroke
• 100 butterfly
• 400 IM

Friday

• 200 butterfly
• 50 freestyle
• 100 backstroke
• 200 breaststroke
• 400 freestyle

Saturday

• 200 IM
• 200 backstroke
• 100 freestyle
• 800 freestyle (W)
• 1500 freestyle (M)

5 Storylines To Watch:

#1 Yes, Nathan Adrian will be swimming
Adrian fans everywhere had a slight scare earlier this week when the psych sheets were released sans the defending Olympic 100m freestyle champion’s name.  Alas, it was just a case of late meet entry, which rendered the stud absent from the event lists, as confirmed by Adrian’s camp.  We still don’t know the Cal Aquatics pro’s event schedule, but a safe supposition is that he will be competing in both sprint freestyle events this weekend.

#2 Michael Phelps’ Post-Nationals Performance
If anyone knows how to end up on top, it’s the greatest Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps, and he certainly made an end-of-season statement at this past summer’s U.S. Nationals.  In San Antonio, Phelps threw down 3 world-topping times in his signature events, the 100m and 200m butterfly and the 200 IM. Phelps Phans now rejoice to see that he is indeed listed in all 3 of those events in Minneapolis, so we’ll get to see what the 30-year-old will do in this follow-up competition.  Phelps is also slated to swim the 100m free, 200m free and 100m backstroke to give the “GOAT” two events per day. Nothing his body shouldn’t be able to handle, based on his output in San Antonio, and certainly in the realm of what SwimSwam’s Mel Stewart predicted in terms of possibly going after 6 events in Rio.

#3 “Off” Events?
Remember how University of Louisville’s Kelsi Worrell won two NCAA butterfly titles last season, breaking the American Record in the 100y event, only to then blast a 1:00.37 for 4th place in the 100m backstroke at U.S. Nationals? The seemingly ‘can-do-anything’ athlete is on the psych sheets again in the 100m backstroke event, which sparks some excitement to see what the non-backstroker-yet-is-awesome-at-backstroke swimmer can do in Minneapolis in the event.

Another “off” event, but on the men’s side of things is Ryan Lochte‘s entry in the 400m freestyle. Obviously known for his endurance in the pool stemming from his Gator days with Coach Gregg Troy and his long, grueling sets training for one of his past signature events, the 400m IM, Lochte is no stranger to “mid-distance”-type racing. However, that doesn’t mean the 400m doesn’t present a challenge.  Lochte’s best time in the event stands at 3:49.25 from 2008, but he has most recently swum a 4:01.26 in April of this year. With the event landing as the final swim on Friday, the 31-year-old may not even end up sticking around to swim it.

#4 Long Course

The 2015 Pro Swim Series meet in Minneapolis, traditionally a short course meet, is being raced in long course this year in preparation for the Olympic Games, and FINA has sanctioned it as an official Olympic qualifying event.

HaThis means that swimmers from smaller swimming nations can use the meet to meet their countries’ and FINA’s qualifying standards for the Olympic Games. USA Swimming would accept times as Olympic Trials qualifying standards regardless of FINA’s opinion on the matter, and FINA standards are almost irrelevant to American swimmers, but with many countries’ swimmers based in the United States, this status is significant for many participants.

#5 Long Lost Friends

Several names popped up on the psych sheets that have been missing from competition as of late.  Examples include SwimMAC Elite’s Roy Burch and Gator Swim Club’s Arkady Vyatchanin.  For Burch’s part, the Bermudian suffered a season-ending knee injury last spring, which rendered Burch out of the pool for several months.  If he indeed swims in Minneapolis, it will mark his first plunge back into the pool since the incident.

On a more short-term time-table, Vyatchanin had withdrawn from August’s U.S. Nationals citing a shoulder injury. The athlete now representing Serbia took time off from any World Cup appearances, as well as his yearly trip to Bolzano, Italy in order to recuperate, so this meet will also mark the gentle giant’s return to competition.

2012 Olympic gold medalist Dana Vollmer is also scheduled to swim, listed in just her one event of the 100m butterfly. Since returning to competition post-baby, Vollmer has been fast-tracking her performances in this event. She first clocked a 1:00.05 in July, then knocked that way down to a 58.94 at U.S. Nationals. Vollmer recently tweeted that she regsitred a time of 58.7 at a recent practice, nodding to the fact that the former world record holder is indeed back in form.