Meet your Teams for the MLC Duel in the Pool

Swimming Australia is thrilled to unveil its Australian Junior Team, along with its Australian Universiade Team, following the conclusion of the 2021 Australian Swimming Trials in Adelaide last week.

After a successful six days of fierce racing at the SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre, a total of 66 athletes and 18 coaches will now battle it out at the MLC Duel in the Pool, as the next wave of elite talent set their sights on the Paris 2024 cycle.

A Swimming Australia led initiative, the MLC Duel in the Pool was created to recognise the achievements of these athletes and coaches after FINA postponed major international meets this year including the World Junior Championships in Kazan, the World Junior Open Water Championships in the Seychelles and the World Universiade Games in China.

Affording those selected the opportunity to still pull on the coveted green and gold, the two teams – Australian Junior and Universiade – will go head-to-head at the MLC Duel in the Pool between 18-21 August at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre, with the open water component taking place at Tallebudgera Creek on 22 August on the Gold Coast.

After strong performances in Adelaide as well as the Australian Swimming Championships on the Gold Coast in April, Elizabeth Dekkers (Newmarket Racers), Ella Ramsay (St Peters Western), Joshua Edwards-Smith (UWA West Coast) and Flynn Southam (Bond), will all headline the junior team’s stacked line up. While not to be outclassed, the Universiade team will feature Lani Pallister (Griffith University) – who was named female athlete of the meet at the 2019 World Junior Championships – TSS Aquatic’s Grayson Bell and Melbourne Vicentre’s Dan Cave, who posted impressive times in his breaststroke events at Trials.

Leading the Australian Junior team as head coach will be Aussie Dolphin and Commonwealth Games gold medallist, Janelle Pallister (nee Elford). Pallister was a key member of the coaching team who accompanied the team to Budapest for the 2019 World Junior Championships, where she coached her daughter Lani Pallister to an incredible six medals at the meet (three gold and three silver). Stationed at Griffith University on the Gold Coast, Pallister coaches alongside Australian Dolphins coach, Michael Bohl.
 

Upon her appointment, Pallister said she was excited for the challenge of leading the 30-strong team.

“I’ve been a team coach on Australian teams before, but never a head coach so it’s a completely new experience for me. I like having a challenge and this will deliver that and be a great experience,” Pallister said.

“We’ve got a really good group of coaches, a good mix across ages and I think that each and every person will gain experience in their own way and be able to learn something new about working together and being part of a team, not just thinking as individuals.”
 

With the two teams set to square off in the pool, Pallister will be looking for ways to drive competition while instilling her own leadership approach.
 

“I don’t want to lead by dictating, I want to create a team that everyone feels comfortable sharing information in and giving their take on things. It will make us a more unified team, working together to come up with great strategies, not just good ones.”

Among the Universiade team representatives is MLC Flipper Emilie Muir, who is looking forward to competing in front of a home crowd on Australian soil.

“I’m really happy about being named on the Universiade team, it’s my first time on an Australian team and it feels really good to have all your hard work recognised,” Muir said.
 

“The pool in Brisbane is a good one to race in, hopefully being in Australia my Mum might come to watch so it should be exciting.” 

As one of the Universiade team athletes, Muir, like her teammates, studies at a tertiary level whilst training as an elite athlete.

“I’m in my first year studying biomedical science at Griffith University and I’m really enjoying all the subjects. It was hard making the transition from school to uni at first, but Griffith has a sports college that helps elite athletes so that gives me a lot of support and helps manage my workload – it’s honestly the best thing.”

Normally teammates, Muir will now be on the opposing side to Griffith University coach, Janelle Pallister.

“I really enjoy having Janelle around on pool deck, her coaching and her advice is always helpful, but when we hit Brisbane, it’ll be a bit of friendly competition.”
 

The MLC Duel in the Pool will be classed as the international benchmark event for Swimming Australia for the purposes of informing pathway program selections and daily training environment support through categorisation.

More information regarding tickets and how to watch will be communicated closer to the event.

Follow @SwimmingAustralia to stay up to date with all the MLC Duel in the Pool action.