The American federation is about to enter a deal with Wasserman that will need careful handling if the new partners want to avoid sending traditional, independent media further away from the pool in the years ahead

Toyota Grand Prix offers money prize to overall winner; Michael Phelps, Natalie Coughlin and Katie Hoff down to race at Southern California Grand Prix, from Friday to Monday, at Long Beach - but its all in yards

The meet will provide a good

This morning, the Olympic champion took the plunge at the Font Romeu high altitude training centre in the Pyrenees under the guidance of her new coach Lionel Horter, of Mulhouse swim club

The former 50m butterfly world champion has suffered a slipped disc in her back

Some anniversaries are worthy of tickertape parades of the homecoming variety that Michelle Smith de Bruin was treated to in 1996. Not this one: January 10, 1998, an amazing day in the anti-doping war

Olympic 100m champion wins 50m in 25.39 and then misses cut in 200m heats at Victoria titles

As Olympic year dawns, and in the midst of training, world 800 and 1,500m champion clocks 4:06.17 victory over 400m at the Victorian state titles in Australia while on tour as mentor to the USA junior team

Leisel Jones, world champion, world record holder but aiming for third-time-lucky in Beijing as far as Olympic solo gold is concerned, suffered a rare domestic defeat, albeit over 50m, at the Victorian championships

For the second time this pre-Olympic season, illness is said to be behind the Olympic champion's no-show for a 100m freestyle test, this time at the Victorian state titles

The 3:08.29 effort of a quartet from CN Marseille at Istres on December 22 is unlikely to be ratified as the world short-course record it was widely publicised to be

Grant Hackett went down by a fingernail to Kendrick Monk, 1:48.01 to 1:48.09, ahead of Patrick Murphy (1:48.67) and Andrew Mewing (1:48.72). A better 4x200m free team is brewing for the Dolphins once more.

Americans join some of Australia's finest for Victorian Championships this week

Lest we forget before we bid farewell to 2007 ... a whirlwind recollection

56 pages of news and features on the fast-changing world of swimming, including a doping haul and the anti-doping debate; Smith de Bruin 10yrs on; Lacroix, Cochrane and Soni profiles; Nagy on breaststroke; Colwin on Phelps

Easy now, we're not talking this year. It happened in 1925, Ethel McGary became the first woman inside 25mins over 1500m on December 31, and given that she did so at Coral Gables, this is one record that may well stand the test of time

The Australian who has taken up where Bill Sweetenham left off will start a bidding process for Intensive Training Centres next month and believes that Britain's undervalued coaches are good enough to thrive and shine in the right conditions

The breaststroke specialists continue to put in good efforts at the Queensland champs - 1:00.72 and 1:06.73. Don't panic: the first time is Sprenger's

An unlikely scenario from Australia: Jodie Henry and Libby Lenton failed to make a regional 200m freestyle final, one because she did a Thorpey and toppled in at the start of her heat, the other because she was too slow

New Zealand swimmers emerged from the s/c pool in Waitakere City sporting eight new national records

Debrecen - European s/c champs: Olympic silver medallist clocks European record of 2:05.49 over 200m breaststroke; Russian clocks 1:04.95 100m breast; Swede clocks 1:53.55 200m free; Sweden men go Euro best 4x50m free, shy of Auburn's world best