Istanbul to welcome 800 swimmers for 25m pool showdown

RENANG INDONESIA - In exactly two weeks, Istanbul's iconic Sinan Erdem Arena will get the game underway with more than 800 athletes from a record 160 countries for the 11th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m), organised from December 12-16, 2012. The temporary square-shape swimming pool will host up to 10,000 spectators over the five-day event.

Some of the best swimmers in action will be in Istanbul, including American Ryan Lochte. The distance specialist already etched his name into the swimming history books, having tallied a record 22 medals at the World short-course event (14 of them gold) since the 2004 edition in Indianapolis (USA). At the last edition in Dubai (UAE), the then 26 year-old set the only two indvidual World records of the meet (in the 200m and 400m individual medleys) and became along the way the first swimmer to win seven medals in a single edition.

Besides Lochte, other stars from the global swimming elite will be in Istanbul to defend their title from Dubai: among men, Cameron van der Burgh and Chad Le Clos (RSA), Paul Biedermann (GER), Stanislav Donets and Evgeny Korotyshkin (RUS) and in the women's field, Federica Pellegrini (ITA), Therese Alshammar (SWE), Erika Villaecija Garcia (ESP) and Jing Zhao (CHN).

In the lead up to what will be another memorable edition of the FINA World Swimming Championhips (25m), you can relive the best moments from Dubai 2010 by having a look at the news reports and photo gallery on the FINA website.

Don't miss a single action-packed race and record-breaking feat in Istanbul by following us on Facebook and Twitter! In addition, watch the daily 50-minute highlights of the 11th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) on FINAtv  (geo restricted) and for the first time, a LIVE radio feed coverage will be available worldwide during the evening finals!