Sport has generated many a healthy rivalry, but few can compare to the rivalry between Australia and the United States when it comes to the open body of water that is a 50m pool. From Thorpe’s crusade for world record stardom to Michael Phelps and the relay teams that saw such iconic reactions as head-banging and air-guitar playing, these feats of performance have cemented their place in history. Now, sporting fans can get excited once more as Australia and the US are set to face off in the pool once again, with the Duel in the Pool competition between the two nations returning Down Under in 2022.
Set to be hosted at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre, Duel in the Pool makes no mistake of putting the rivalry at the centre of sport. Who could forget the moment American swimming legend and relay team member Gary Hall Jr. told reporters his team would “smash them like guitars” when asked about the challenge posed by the Australian relay team to their gold medal hopes. Not surprisingly, when Thorpe, Michael Klim, Chris Fydler and Ashley Callus walked out to a home crowd at the Sydney 2000 Olympics for the 4x100m freestyle relay, they hadn’t forgotten those comments.
With the entire stadium behind them, the Aussies took gold, beating the Americans for the first time ever with a victory of 0.19 seconds which also saw them beat the American world record by more than a second. It marked the first time in 36 years that the United States hadn’t secured the gold medal in the relay.
The rest, as they say, is history and from that day a rivalry of epic proportions was born. We’ve even seen Ariarne Titmus and Katie Ledecky from the United States go head-to-head in the women’s 400-metre freestyle competition. It’s a fierce competition we might even see once more in August when Duel in the Pool arrives in Sydney.
Watch Australia and the USA battle it out for points and pride at this year’s Duel In The Pool 2022. ???????? ???????? #DuelInThePool @USASwimming pic.twitter.com/QYmGoEgr9R
— Swimming Australia (@SwimmingAUS) April 20, 2022
Taking place on Friday the 19th August, the event will begin with an open water relay race in the waters of Bondi Beach before moving to the Aquatic Centre at Sydney Olympic Park for two nights of adrenaline-fuelled racing. Tickets to the events will be available from Swimming Australia in the months to come, put we’d suggest adding these dates to your calendar to ensure you’re ready and rearing to go.
