Aside from Olympic legend Brooke Bennett, another star swimmer will make her big return at the upcoming Orlando Grand Prix next week: 100 fly World Record holder Dana Vollmer. Missy Franklin will also swim just a week after her high school state championship meet (for which she won’t be shaved nor tapered).
Psych sheets won’t be available until next week, but more information about times and tickets are available below in the USA Swimming press release.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Olympic gold medalists Ryan Lochte (Daytona Beach, Fla.), Dana Vollmer (Granbury, Texas), Missy Franklin (Centennial, Colo.) and Tyler Clary (Riverside, Calif.) will compete February 14-16 at the Arena Grand Prix at Orlando. The event, which is the third stop of the six-meet 2012-13 Arena Grand Prix Series, will be held for the first time in Orlando at the YMCA Aquatic Center.
Other Olympians expected to swim in Orlando include Conor Dwyer (Winnetka, Ill.), Anthony Ervin (Berkeley, Calif.), Amanda Weir (Lawrenceville, Ga.), Charlie Houchin (Raleigh, N.C.), Kate Ziegler (Great Falls, Va.) and Christine Magnuson (Tinley Park, Ill.). The meet will also feature a strong field of international swimmers, including two-time Olympic medalist Ryan Cochrane from Canada, China’s Wu Peng, Jamaica’s Alia Atkinson and Brazil’s Felipe Lima.
Preliminary heats in Orlando will start at 9 a.m. ET Thursday through Saturday and finals will begin at 6 p.m. ET. Meet tickets are available at the YMCA Aquatics Center Admissions Desk. Children 8 years of age and under are $5 while adult tickets are $15. For more information, click here.
Viewers at home can catch the action of the meet via USA Swimming Network’s live webcast or on the Universal Sports Network, which will broadcast the event on February 15 and 16 from 6-7:30 p.m. ET. Check local listings for channels and times in your area.
The Arena Grand Prix at Orlando will also see the launch of the Arena “Autograph Arena”, which is open to the public daily and does not require an event ticket. Hours of operation are between 10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m., Thursday through Saturday. Following finals each evening, the area will be open from 8:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. for ticket holders only. The Arena Grand Prix Series will conclude June 2, 2013 in Santa Clara, Calif. As part of USA Swimming’s eight-year partnership with Arena, the Arena Grand Prix Series will offer swimmers the opportunity to take home prize money for top finishes in all individual Olympic-distance events for each meet in the Series. In each event, first-place finishers will receive $500, second-place finishers will earn $300 and swimmers in third place will take home $100*. Prize money will be distributed for each meet in the Series.
The Arena Grand Prix Series serves as an opportunity for swimmers to race against some of the best competition in the country as they continue their preparation for the 2013 Phillips 66 National Championships in Indianapolis, Ind., World University Games in Kazan, Russia and the FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Spain.
Cool news. Happy to see Dana Vollmer is still an elite swimmer. Last year she could have swum a world record for ages around 55.50 in the 100 fly final in London without a very bad touch at the finish. But the most important thing was the gold medal. Interesting to see if she can repeat this level of performance this year after a long break. And it’s also important for USA that she hasn’t retired. USA needs a top swimmer on butterfly until new talents like Kendyl Stewart or the young Cassidy Bayer take over.
This Orlando grand prix looks a little more interesting than the previous one with the names you mention. I don’t know if the… Read more »
Poor Anthony. 13 years after a Gold Medal, and he’s referred to as an “other” Olympian.
5 fast turtles will be there to represent