One glance at the Olympians scrambling for the best vantage point overlooking Bondi Beach suggested this was a morning like no other.
Surfers waited patiently for waves, Icebergs regulars filtered in and out of the pool and a gym was overflowing. A standard Friday morning.
Australia claimed the spoils in the open water relay at Bondi Beach to start the Duel in the Pool.Credit:Edwina Pickles
Then there were the Australian and United States swimming teams, mini flags in hand, whose cheers were loud enough to drown out the sound of the waves hitting the rocks. Not so standard Friday morning.
This was the opening event of the Duel in the Pool, only it was more a battle in Bondi.
Kyle Lee surged home to overturn a 17-second deficit as an Australian team including Kai Edwards, Chelsea Gubecka and Kareena Lee beat the United States in a 4x800m open water relay on Friday morning.
“I would have loved this,” three-time Olympic gold medallist Grant Hackett said.
“Not many people know, I grew up doing more surf swimming than I was pool swimming. I wanted to be an Ironman and I loved surf lifesaving. It wasn’t until Sydney got the Olympics that I thought ‘I can’t go to the Olympics in that sport’, so I actually went down the path of swimming. I fell in love with the 1500m and went from there.”
Hackett is serving as an Australian team captain as the event now shifts to the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre, with crowds of up to 4000 expected on both Saturday and Sunday night as Australia and the USA compete for points in individual races, random order medleys, broken relays, and a world-first integrated relay featuring able-bodied and para-athletes.
Australia’s Olympic champion Zac Stubblety-Cook calls the Duel in the Pool swimming’s answer to Twenty20 cricket. It’s an event the Americans have never lost since its inception in 2003, but today’s iteration of the Dolphins loom as favourites to claim the crown.
Australian Team Captain Grant Hackett (left) and swimmer Cody Simpson (centre) chat with NSW Minister for Tourism Ben Franklin (right) during the launch of the Duel in the Pool yesterday at Bondi Beach.Credit:AAP
Among the star-studded Australian squad are the likes of Emma McKeon, Kaylee McKeown, Mollie O’Callaghan, Cody Simpson and Mack Horton.
“This is arguably the two best swimming countries in the world going head-to-head,” America’s Tokyo bronze medallist Annie Lazor said.
“It’s such a nice opportunity to have – even though this is a rivalry – a much more light-hearted competition.”
