Grevers, Ervin, Beisel among Team USA Captains for World Championships

Team USA has selected its captains for the 2015 World Championships: Matt Grevers, Anthony Ervin, David Plummer, Elizabeth Beisel, Cammile Adams and Jessica Hardy.

That’s a team of experienced international vets, with 12 Olympic medals between them.

#TeamUSA captains for #Kazan2015: @CammileAdams, @ebeisel34, @swimhardy & @AnthonyErvin, @MattGrevers, @davideplummer pic.twitter.com/ydqzZ7Si3o

— USA Swimming (@USASwimming) July 27, 2015

Grevers is the reigning backstroke king, having won gold medals in the 100 back at the 2012 Olympics and the 2013 World Championships. He narrowly missed Pan Pacs gold last summer, falling to Japan’s Ryosuke Irie by just .07, but is still among the favorites to win the 100 back title next week.

The sprint specialist Ervin is the team’s elder statesman at age 34. An Olympic gold medalist way back in 2000, Ervin came out of retirement to make the U.S. Olympic team again in 2012. Ervin took silver at Pan Pacs last summer and should be in the hunt for a splash-and-dash medal once again in Kazan.

Plummer is a multi-time U.S. National champ and another veteran presence. He and Grevers swept the gold and silver medals at the 2013 World Championships in the 100 back, and Plummer is perhaps even more dangerous in the 50 back, where he was the U.S. Open record-holder up until just a few weeks ago.

Only about a year removed from a stellar college career, Beisel is the youngest of the U.S. captains at just 22. But despite that, her international resume is among the most extensive on Team USA, including two Olympic appearances. Beisel has been representing Team USA internationally since 2007, when she made the World Championships team as just a 14-year-old. She was the Olympic silver medalist in the 400 IM and also won gold in that event at last summer’s Pan Pacs.

Adams is another young captain, at age 23. She won the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 200 fly in 2012, and narrowly missed an individual medal with a 5th place finish at the London Olympics. Currently ranking 6th in the world in that event, Adams could be a medal contender with the dropout of Spanish star Mireia Belmonte.

The team’s veteran on the women’s side is Hardy, an Olympic qualifier in 2008 and 2012. She finaled twice in the sprint freestyles in London, but will instead swim the 50 and 100 breaststrokes in Kazan. Hardy was the Pan Pacs champ in the 100 breast last summer as well as the U.S. National Champ in the 50 breast.