Source: www.guardian.co.tt
Story By: Nigel Simon
T&T Olympic bronze medal swimmer George Bovell III will defend his title against a field of some of the world’s best when the second annual JAX 50 Sprint Dual Challenge comes off at the Bolles High School’s Uible Pool, Jacksonville, Florida from tomorrow until Sunday. Tomorrow’s schedule will feature long course competition in each stroke at 100 metres and the 200 IM while Saturday’s morning session includes 50m races of each stroke with the top-two men and women swimmers in the 50m freestyle advancing to the main event on Saturday evening.
In the main event, the four qualifiers will join the group of elite swimmers to participate in a round-robin 50m freestyle competition. The Saturday evening session will feature heats of only two swimmers at a time, racing head-to-head, for a chance to advance to the final. On Sunday, a four-hour swimming clinic will provide the opportunity for the participants to meet and learn from the guest athletes. This is a rare chance to interact with so many of the world’s elite swimmers and will certainly mark a highlight in many young swimmers’ careers.
Last year’s edition of the event was supported former Bolles swimmer Seun Adebiyi who is in need of a bone marrow donor after being diagnosed with lymphoblastic lymphoma and stem-cell leukemia. In addition to Bovell, several Olympians and internationally ranked swimmers, including Bolles alumni, have committed to participate. They include Arianna Vanderpool Wallace (Bolles ’08), Kara Lynn Joyce, Amanda Weir, Fred Bousquet, Nicolas Nilo, and Adam Brown.
Also slated to appear are world record holder Jessica Hardy, and NCAA Champion and World Championship medalist Josh Schneider. The swimmers will also be attending a “Dinner with the Stars” event at the Jacksonville Marriott tomorrow evening, including a photo and autograph session. Bovell III, who is nursing a sliced left big toe is coming off an 11th place finish in the men’s 50m freestyle (23.12) at the seventh Swim Cup Eindhoven, Netherlands on Sunday. This came on the heels of a successful defence of his 50m freestyle title at the Spanish Spring Nationals where he won gold in 22.38.