大象传媒

Clare Balding is at the Manchester Aquatics Centre where Europe, represented by Great Britain, Italy and Germany, are taking on the USA in what has been dubbed as the Ryder Cup of swimming. The main attraction is sure to be 14-time Olympic gold medallist Michael Phelps, who is competing in Britain for the first time.

The USA have always been a strong force in world swimming and with the likes of Phelps, Ryan Lochte and Aaron Peirsol on their team in Manchester, they will be hard to beat. But British swimming has been making big waves in recent years, as proved by the seven medals, including two golds, that were won in the pool at the World Championships earlier in 2009 on top of Olympic success in Beijing in 2008. Britain's double Olympic champion Becky Adlington is part of the European team, along with new world champions Liam Tancock and Gemma Spofforth.