Olympian Charlie Houchin has chosen against swimming at the Short Course World Championships in Istanbul this winter, as USA Swimming has updated their roster for the meet that runs from December 12th-16th.
Houchin was entered to swim only the 800 free relay on the original roster, the same event that he swam in 2012 at the London Olympics. He has now been removed from that lineup and replaced by Michael Klueh, who was already on the team to swim the individual 400 free – an event that he was 3rd in at the Olympic Trials.
The Americans have dominated the 800 free relay in long course competition, including winning the last three Olympic golds, but they are a bit more vulnerable at these short course World Championships. In 2010, they took silver to a World Record for the Russians. In fact, they haven’t won gold at the Short Course World Championships in as long as they’ve been dominant at the Olympics: since the year 2000 where Josh Davis led the USA to a dominant victory ahead of Russia.
Neither man has swum much in short course meters, but for what it’s worth, Klueh’s best in yards (1:33.25) is significantly better than Houchin’s best in yards (1:35.18). Both men haven’t swum a serious yards meet in many years, however.
The full roster, with the changes, is below. The only other swap is that the 100 free has been added to Jimmy Feigen‘s list of events; the original roster only had one American entry in the event.
(Update 10/29: Kara Lynn Joyce is out, Christine Magnuson is in. Read more here.)
| Women | ||
| Name | Event | Club |
| Ellyn Baumgardner | 50/100 breast | Curl Burke Swim Club/Arizona |
| Bonnie Brandon | 200 back | Mission Aurora Colorado Swimming |
| Chelsea Chenault | 4×200 free relay | Terrapins Swim Team |
| Maya Dirado | 100/200/400 IM | Stanford Swimming |
| Claire Donahue* | 50/100 fly | Western Kentucky University |
| Jessica Hardy* | 50/100 free, 50/100 breast | Trojan Swim Club |
| Kathleen Hersey* | 50/100/200 fly | Longhorn Aquatics |
| Kara Lynn Joyce* | 50 free | SwimMAC Carolina |
| Andrea Kropp | 200 breast | Rattler Swim Club/USC |
| Becca Mann | 400 IM, 800 free | Clearwater Aquatic Team |
| Melanie Margalis | 100/200 IM | St. Petersburg Aquatics |
| Lia Neal* | 4×100 free relay | Asphalt Green Unified Aquatics |
| Megan Romano | 100/200 free, 50/100/200 back | Athens Bulldog Swim Club |
| Allison Schmitt* | 200/400 free, 4×100 free relay | North Baltimore Aquatic Club |
| Olivia Smoliga | 50/100 back | Glenview Titan Aquatic Club |
| Laura Sogar | 200 breast | Bluefish Swim Club/Texas |
| Chloe Sutton* | 400/800 free | Mission Viejo Nadadores |
| Jasmine Tosky | 200 fly | Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics |
| Shannon Vreeland* | 4×200 free relay | Athens Bulldog Swim Club |
| Men | ||
| Mike Alexandrov | 50/100 breast | Trojan Swim Club |
| Bobby Bollier | 200 fly | Stanford Swimming |
| Clark Burckle* | 200 breast | Tucson Ford Dealer Aquatics |
| Kevin Cordes | 50/100 breast | University of Arizona |
| Conor Dwyer* | 100/200 IM, 200/400 free | Lake Forest Swim Club/Gator |
| Mark Dylla | 200 fly | Athens Bulldog Swim Club |
| Anthony Ervin* | 50 free | California Aquatics |
| Ryan Feeley | 1500 free | University of Michigan |
| Jimmy Feigen* | 100 Free, 4×100 free relay | Longhorn Aquatics |
| Matt Grevers* | 100 free, 50/100 back | Tucson Ford Dealer Aquatics |
| Ben Hesen | 50/100 back | Pacesetter Aquatics/Gator |
| Michael Klueh | 400 free, 4×200 free relay (added after Houchin dropped) | FAST Swim Team |
| Ryan Lochte* | 200 free, 200 back, 50/100 fly, 100/200 IM | Daytona Beach Swimming/Gator |
| Michael McBroom | 1500 free | The Woodlands Swim Team/Texas |
| Matt McLean* | 4×200 free relay | FAST Swim Team |
| Ryan Murphy | 200 back | Bolles School Sharks |
| Tyler Reed | 4×100 free relay | Southern Kentucky Swim Club |
| Tom Shields | 50/100 fly | California Aquatics |
| Josh Schneider | 50 free | SwimMAC Carolina |
| Steven Schmuhl | 400 IM | Indiana University |
| Garrett Weber-Gale | 4×100 free relay | Longhorn Aquatics |
| Scott Weltz* | 200 breast | Marin Pirates |
| Michael Weiss | 400 IM | Wisconsin Aquatics |
No Cullen Jones??