Biondi, Jager to Swim in 50-Meter Match Race

Matt Biondi and Tom Jager, the sprinters who currently dominate international swimming, will compete in an unprecedented 50-meter freestyle match race Dec. 2 as a special feature of a college invitational meet, the U.S. National Grand Prix, in Long Beach.

It is fitting that the race should take place in the Los Angeles area, as something of a makeup for the 50-meter showdown between Jager and Biondi at the national long course meet last summer. Jager was disqualified for a false start that he has yet to see on the tape, and Biondi, who then held the world record, won the race that had fans on their feet and booing.

Jager holds the world record of 22.12 seconds, having regained it at the Pan Pacific Games in August.

According to Darrell Fick, the meet director, appearance fees for Biondi and Jager, and prize money for the winner, will be sponsored by Vintage Design Corporation of Yorba Linda, which is calling the race the Vintage 50. USC is hosting the meet, which will be held at Belmont Plaza Pool.

Although the amount of the prize money is not being announced, Jager said it was enough to make it worth putting his world record on the line.

“Along with the money, though, is the chance to swim against the best,” Jager said. “That’s how I plan to keep on top. I’m not going to duck him.

“I think he feels the same way. There are not all that many chances for us to swim against each other.

“The Goodwill Games (in Seattle in August) will be a one-swim deal. They aren’t having preliminaries there. We might meet in qualifying at the short-course nationals. And we’ll be swimming a match race (for money) in Italy at Thanksgiving time. But this will be the first race like this in the United States. I’m pretty excited about it.”

Jager, a graduate of UCLA, and Biondi, a graduate of California, have been swimming against each other for many years, in collegiate meets as well as national and international competition.

Biondi took the world record from Jager in Seoul in 1988, lowering it to 22.14 when he won the gold medal and left Jager with the silver.

Fick said that U.S. Swimming had sanctioned the race for prize money at a meet for six men’s collegiate teams and nine women’s collegiate teams as a separate event, outside the college competition.

Fick said: “It’s similar to what they do in track, but we’ve never done it in swimming.”