After a seven-year absence, the Duel in the Pool competition is set to make its return this week, from August 19-21, with the United States and Australia competing head-to-head in Sydney, Australia. The competition will feature Olympic powerhouses, emerging national talents, a unique set of events and scoring opportunities and more. 

Here are five things to watch for:

Have you seen the list of events?!
This is NOT your typical swim meet. With events like a 6x50-meter freestyle relay, a 200m Mystery Individual Medley, skins events, a Mixed Class/Able-Bodied relay and more, this schedule is set to create some exciting racing opportunities. The competition is centered around sprint events and will even have sprint-esque races for distance freestylers, as there is a broken 400m and broken 800m freestyle, where swimmers have to race specific distances within the event on intervals that culminate to the 400- or 800-meter mark. To view the off-the-wall schedule, along with the potential bonus points, click here. 

Para Athlete Debuts
For the first time in Duel in the Pool history, Para athletes will be competing. The U.S. Para swimmer contingent features McKenzie Coan, Jamal Hill, Noah Jaffe and Lizzi Smith, who combine for nine Paralympic Games medals and 25 World Para Swimming Championships medals. The Australian group will be represented by Ellie Cole, Matt Levy, Will Martin and Ash McConnell. In total, there are five Mixed Class events as well as a Mixed Class/Able-Bodied relay for these Para swimmers to showcase their talents.

Open Water... Sprint?
The competition kicks off the morning of Friday, August 19 in Sydney (which would be the evening of Thursday, August 18 in the States) with an open water relay event, though the event is a 4x800m relay. Shorter than a typical open water event, the relay will sure to be a tone-setter for the event. The U.S. will send out the quartet of Charlie Clark, David Johnston, Bella Sims and Tylor Mathieu — two of whom (Clark and Sims) represented the U.S. in the 4x1500 open water relay at the 2022 FINA World Open Water Championships this past June. 

Busy Two Days in Sydney
With 40 pool events in just two days, many of the swimmers competing will have a hectic personal lineup with plenty of racing opportunities. Tokyo Olympian Michael Andrew is currently entered in the most events (10) of any American, followed by Shaine Casas (8) and Sims (7). The full schedule, combined with the opportunity for bonus points, will create some strategic scenarios for athletes and how much they save up or let rip in a race.

History Lesson
The U.S. heads to Australia with an undefeated, 7-0 record in Duel in the Pool competitions, including a 3-0 record when the competition was held against Australia. 

A full breakdown of Duel in the Pool results:

• 2015: U.S. 155, European All-Stars 107 (Indianapolis, Ind.) 
• 2013: U.S. 132, European All-Stars 131 (Glasgow, Scotland) 
• 2011: U.S. 181.5, European All-Stars 80.5 (Atlanta, Ga.) 
• 2009: U.S. 185, European Stars 78 (Manchester, England) 
• 2007: U.S. 181.5, Australia 129.5 (Sydney, Australia) 
• 2005: U.S. 190, Australia 102 (Irvine, Calif.) 
• 2003: U.S. 196, Australia 74 (Indianapolis, Ind.)