Michael Phelps isn’t the only big name missing from the world swimming championships that begin Friday in Kazan, Russia.
Along with the 18-time Olympic gold medalist, Aussie sprinter James Magnussen, Yannick Agnel of France, South Korea’s Park Tae-hwan and Kylie Palmer of Australia won’t be competing in the last major international meet before the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. Also missing is Japanese star Kosuke Hagino and Swedish veteran Therese Alshammar.
The absences will likely set the stage for lesser-known talent to emerge a year before the Rio Games.
“By no means is it going to be a perfect representation of what the Olympics are going to be next year,” U.S. sprinter Nathan Adrian said.
Phelps didn’t swim at the 2013 worlds in Barcelona, having retired the previous year after the London Olympics. He qualified in three events a year ago for Kazan, but was banned from worlds as part of his punishment by USA Swimming for a second drunken driving arrest last fall.