Europe VS USA On The Blocks

London's 2012 Olympic aquatics centre is in line to host swimming's answer to the Ryder Cup - Europe V US - in 2011 as a warm-up for the Games a year later.

The details of the Duel-in-the-Pool are likely to be thrashed out at a meeting between the Ligue Européenne de Natation (LEN) and USA Swimming this coming autumn, though the event could become a Trio-in-the-Pool if the parties agree to a move for Australia to be included.

Whatever form the event takes, it will represent a monument to American swimming's forward-planning skills: negotiations began as far back as 2003, when Peter Daland, an Octogenarian who during his days on the deck was one of the most successful coaches in swimming history, raised the idea with the Europe's governing federation league in the belief that either Paris or London would host the 2012 Olympic Games.

Laszlo Szakadati, Hungarian director of LEN, the European body working hard to make the event a reality, said: "We should not be blind about this: America wants this event because London has the Games and the US team wants to be here a year in advance to test the waters and their training and preparation for 2012. But Europe thinks this is a great idea, it could be a fantastic spectacle for swimming and we would like to see it become a tradition, more than something we have just twice."

Szakadati added that Europe favoured staging the inaugural Duel in 2009, though it was "not yet certain whether the 2012 pool in London will be ready then". Dublin is a favourite alternative venue for a 2009 event. There is no candidate other than London for 2011 provided Britain is ready to host the competition.

Technical and financial details have yet to be agreed and potential sponsors yet to be approached formally, while Europe has yet to decide how a team from many nations would be selected and who would foot the bill.

Disagreements with the US centre on the competition format: Europe favours two competitors from each team in each race (for a final of six should Australia be present), while the US wants to see three swimmers per team in a final of nine (Olympic pools are ten lanes wide, the outside two lanes left empty at the Games and for world championships).

Szakadati said that Europe favoured staging a two-day competition that would break away from the current Olympic format (eight days, 40 events) and be more TV-friendly. "Swimmers would enjoy that too, I'm sure. It would be a break from the routine," he added.

A meeting between Europe and the US will take place "either in October or November" to finalise details. Asked whether Australia, which already takes part in a Duel-In-The-Pool exclusively with the US, would be at those talks, the director said: "Initially this was all about US v Europe, but now there is some insistence on Australia being there. It is not that we object to that, not at all, but frankly speaking, this is about the US: it was an honour for Europe to be invited to talk about this by the Americans.

"In Melbourne (world championships last March), we were not beaten, we were ultra-beaten just a few months after a paper exercise showed how close things were between the US and Europe as a continent. I think this meet could be fantastic for the sport and for European swimming and we're working to make it happen," said Szakadati.

A Europe v USA duel is likely to attract the attention of good sponsorship and widespread TV coverage.