Phelps, Hackett Play Duel Roles

During international competition, Michael Phelps considers Australia’s Grant Hackett to be one of his biggest rivals.

“The guy’s talented,” said Phelps, who is expected to face Hackett today in the Duel in the Pool at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatic Center in Irvine. “I was able to train with him for a week two years ago in Australia. He’s a fast swimmer, and his times in Montreal [at the world championships] were incredible.”

Phelps, a six-time Olympic gold medalist, and Hackett, a gold-medal winner in the 1,500-meter freestyle the last two Olympics, will headline the Duel in the Pool. The event, comparable to a soccer friendly, stems from a rivalry between the U.S. and Australia that dates to the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

“I think when you have dominant swimming nations pulled together, it’s an exciting event,” Phelps said. “We’re going to be fired up with the emotion of the crowd. This isn’t an everyday swim meet.”

Both teams competed in last weekend’s world championships in Montreal, where Hackett won three individual gold medals and Phelps won two. Phelps defeated Hackett in the 200 freestyle, the only event in which the pair faced off.

Today’s meet will feature 66 Olympians with a total of 83 medals. Combined scoring from the men’s and women’s events will be used to crown an overall winner.

“For us, this is our Yankees-Red Sox, our Ali-Frazier,” said Chuck Wielgus, the executive director for USA Swimming. “The United States and Australia are the heavyweights in swimming. The chance for us to go head to head just builds up that rivalry.”

Although participants in each event won’t be announced until today, the meet offers some intriguing possibilities.

Tara Kirk and Leisel Jones could race in the 100 breaststroke. Kirk holds the world record for the breaststroke in the short course; Jones, who participated as a 15-year-old for Australia at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, holds the long-course record.

The two will compete in a long-course pool today.

The 100 freestyle might pit Natalie Coughlin, the U.S. record-holder in the event, against Jodie Henry, the world-record holder. In Athens, Henry won gold and Coughlin took bronze.

The world championships concluded Sunday, and the teams arrived Monday from Montreal. Dave Salo, the U.S. men’s coach, said he did not expect fatigue to play a factor at the meet.

“I think we’re ready to go,” he said. “There’s been a lot of good-natured trash talk between the coaches, and we’re expecting [the Australians] to put on their best face and we will too.”

One athlete who says the match is overhyped is American Larsen Jensen, the runner-up to Hackett in the 1500 freestyle in Athens.

“To be honest, our men’s team is far superior,” Jensen said. “The men’s team as a whole, I don’t really think there is a rivalry. Our depth and resolve in so many events is just hard to beat. It’s a great time for U.S. swimming.”

At the inaugural Duel in the Pool in Indianapolis in 2003, a 17-year-old Phelps, relatively new to international competition, set a world record in the 400 individual medley and an American record in the 100 butterfly. The United States defeated Australia, 196-74, by winning 21 of the 26 events