Short-course action from the seven-stage FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup 2008 series continues this weekend when the second leg is held from October 17-18 in Durban (RSA) at the Kings Park Aquatic Centre. Fans can access World Cup coverage of the finals via free LIVE streaming on the FINA website, as some of the world’s best continue testing their endurance in an effort to win lucrative prize money.

The top-ranked swimmers after stage one, which took place in Belo Horizonte (BRA) last weekend, are Australian Beijing Olympian Christian Sprenger, who had three breaststroke wins including the best male performance of the competition for the 100m (58.19 to garner 981 points), and fellow Australian Marieke Guehrer, the Athens Olympian who won three races including the best female performance for the 50m butterfly (25.63 for 991 points). Both will be back in action in Durban to try and retain their overall winning rank and secure the US$100,000 prize that will be awarded to the World Cup winners.

Stars appearing this weekend include home favourites Kathryn Meaklim and Mandy Loots, as well as recent Olympians Melissa Corfe, Wesley Gilchrist, Darian Townsend, Jessica Pengelly, Cameron Van der Burgh, Suzaan Van Biljon, William Diering and Chad Ho. Olympians Sophie Edington (AUS), Fabiola Molina (BRA), Maxim Ganikhin (RUS) and Evgeny Aleshin (RUS) will compete, as well as Sweden’s Stefan Nystrand and Josefin Lillhage, Olympic champion Oussama Mellouli (TUN), and 2007 World Cup winners Randall Bal (USA) and Therese Alshammar (SWE).

This is only the second year in the event’s 20-year history that the calendar has been compacted to fit seven meets into a period of just five weeks in October and November. The new format allows athletes to stay focused on performing well during the Series at-hand, thus heightening the competition and generating increased media attention. The competition will unfold as follows:

Belo Horizonte (BRA): October 10-12, 2008
Durban (RSA): October 17-18, 2008
Sydney (AUS): October 25-26, 2008
Singapore (SIN): November 1-2, 2008
Moscow (RUS): November 8-9, 2008
Stockholm (SWE):  November 11-12, 2008
Berlin (GER): November 15-16, 2008