Le Clos to headline Swimming World Cup field in Middle East
South African swimmer Chad le Clos will headline the field in the Middle East for the fifth and sixth legs of the FINA/airweave Swimming World Cup, starting on Tuesday.
Olympic silver medallist and World Cup champion Le Clos explained his special link to the city of Dubai.
“I have come to Dubai many times and I love it. I have been training here a lot so it is a special place for me, like a second home. I have a lot of friends here,” said Le Clos.
Personally, I use the World Cup to get back to shape in between the Olympics and the Short Course World Championships.”
The world-class event first returns to Dubai (UAE) on Tuesday and Wednesday, and welcomes numerous elite swimmers such as Katinka Hosszu (HUN) and Vladimir Morozov (RUS), who both currently lead the ranking, but also Le Clos (RSA), Jeanette Ottesen (DEN) and many others.
Swimmer Mohamed Almheiri, representing UAE, welcomed everyone and admitted that “presenting our country internationally is great because we boost the image of Dubai. We need to continue to achieve more for the country I think.”
A total of 33 countries are taking part in the Dubai meet, 144 men and 72 women will be taking part in the two-day competition (216 in total). In addition, 105 club swimmers will be performing under international standards in the Hamdan Sports Complex.
Morning heats will kick-off at 10am, while the finals, streamed free of charge on FINA TV, will be raced at 6:30pm.
The FINA/airweave Swimming World Cup will then head to Asia for the final Cluster with stops in Singapore, Tokyo and Hong Kong.