The 'FINA Arena World Cup' featured great performances and big payouts!

This FINA Arena World Cup was a great meet and you can get a PDF of the results at Lane 9 News. [Link]

For instance: Randall Bal "leapfrogged" three of Peter Marshall's WRs in the 50scm backstroke to claim the title.

Tara Kirk really did well finishing first in both the 50scm, and the 100scm breaststroke with little training.

Kara Lynn Joyce stands out too finishing 3rd in the 50scm free and 6th in the 400scm free which is pretty impressive considering that she is a sprinter.

Then there were the WRs set by Alshammar but then eclipsed by Guehrer Marieke in the last heat of the 50scm fly.

We need more of these international races.

'Flickr' photoset of the 2008 US Olympic Training camp in Singapore!

This photo is titled: 'Dazzling Team Shot' - The girls of the 4x200 relay. What I like about this shot is not what it reveals; (though I like that too), but rather what our athletes wear to workout. Michael Phelps, for instance, seems to be wearing a pair of quasi-plaid briefs whereas Dara Torres prefers a more 'Wonder Woman' look.

Swimmers like Coughlin, Kara Lynn Joyce, Cullen Jones, Brendan Hansen and many others are featured here in richseow's photoset on flickr.com

If you go and look, leave comments for the guy, we need more candid and less staged photography like this.

"The Magnificent 13" will compete in the 41st Toyota Santa Clara International Grand Prix, starting Thursday in Santa Clara

Bumped into this by accident and I am glad I did. From the Mercury News: "... U.S. national teams members expected to compete include Olympians Kaitlin Sandeno, Erik Vendt, Kara Lynn Joyce, Amanda Beard, Jason Lezak, Peter Vanderkaay and Margaret Hoelzer, USA Swimming announced today. The field also includes Kim Vandenberg of Moraga and world record-holder Kate Ziegler. ..." [Link]

Available Cowboys and Cowgirl include: Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, and Natalie Coughlin.

I woke up to a "Swim Alert" from Lane 9 News that Dara Torres beat Therese Alshammar and set an American record

Though Torres placed second to Marleen Veldhuis, Dara Torres now owns the American record in the 50 SCM. I think it is a pretty significant swim especially since she also beat Therese Alshammar. I was hoping You Tube would have a fan video but nothing has been posted yet. I now think there is a very good chance that Dara Torres will medal in the LCM version of this event in Beijing if she qualifies next year at trials. Lane News [Link]

From WCSN: "...

Marleen Veldhuis blazed the splash-and-dash event with a time of 23.58 to pip Sweden's Therese Alshammar's global standard of 23.59, set way back in March 2000. The mark also jumped Veldhuis well ahead of Libby Lenton's season-best time of 23.77, set at the Aussie championships in August.

Additionally, the United States' Dara Torres rocketed past the previous American record of 24.21 set by Kara Lynn Joyce in March 2004. Torres posted a blistering time of 23.82 to become the first sub-24 American in the event.

Alshammar (24.05) and teammate Anna-Karin Kammerling (24.32) took third and fourth, respectively ..." [Link]