Clary and Lochte to Lead American Team in Perth

The hype around the BHP Billiton Aquatic Super Series, which will take place on January 30th-January 31st, is building as the Australians announced their team yesterday and today the Americans released the members of their team which include 11-time Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte and Pan Pacific and Olympic gold medalist Tyler Clary.

The Americans will be taking a team of 24 (12 men and 12 women). This is the first time that they will be competing in the event which has run for the last three years.

They announced their participation and selection criteria in October.

A summary of the selection that was used is as follows:

The American selection procedures will send up to 12 men and 12 women to the event.

The first priority will be given to the highest ranked available swimmer in each Olympic event in World Rankings from January 1st, 2014 to September 1st, 2014 (the same time period used to select the Short Course Worlds team). The exception will be in the men’s 1500 free, where the top ranked available swimmer will not be chosen.

If there’s still room, all other spots on this truncated roster will be filled at the discretion of the National Team Director and the team’s head coaches; those swimmers will be chosen only from the 2014-2015 National Team.

Full selection criteria can be found here.

With Elizabeth Beisel and Maya DiRado on the American roster and Keryn McMaster on the Australian team we may see a rematch of the top three finishers in the 400 IM from the Pan Pacific Championships.

Dependent on the Ryosuke Irie‘s participation we may see the same in the men’s 200 backstroke as we now know that both Clary and Mitch Larkin will be competing.

The event has grown each year, with a more diverse and stronger field assembling in Perth. This year’s event will see teams from Australia, the United States, China and Japan compete for the $400,000 in prize money up for grabs.

Swimming Australia’s CEO Mark Anderson could not be more pleased of that fact, “For the Australian Swim Team to race against some of their most rivalled competitors, Team USA, it will bring a fantastic atmosphere to the grand stand and only increase the demand for international broadcast, which is an incredible opportunity to grow the sport and showcase what Western Australia has to offer”, said Anderson.

Lochte also expressed his excitement to return to the land down under, “The Australian swim team always presents a tough challenge, so to come back to Australia and compete against them is a great racing opportunity for Team USA,” said Lochte.

“Perth has a great history of hosting international swimming at HBF Stadium, and this event only adds to that legacy. This meet is a great chance for fans to come and see some world-class swimming.”

The current roster (which does not equal 24 yet), includes:

Men:

• Tyler Clary, Conor Dwyer, BJ Johnson, Cullen Jones, Ryan Lochte, Michael McBroom and Tim Phillips

Women:

• Cammile Adams, Kathleen Baker, Elizabeth Beisel, Maya DiRado, Madison Kennedy, Micah Lawrence, Felcia Lee, Becca Mann, Katie Meili, Allison Schmitt and Shannon Vreeland

Update: the original announcements by USA Swimming and Swimming Australia only included 17 names. We’ve managed to track down one of the ‘missing 7’ (Katie Meili), but are still working on the other 6.

With the United States announcement that leaves only Japan and China to unveil their rosters.

The official website for the event can be found here.