Twenty-two U.S. Olympic swimmers are set to compete in the 12th FINA World Championships, as action gets underway Sunday (March 25) in the temporary pool at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia. The World Championships is considered the top international swimming competition in the world outside of the Olympic Games, and this meet will be the best indicator of the stars to watch in 2008. Twenty-two members of the 2003 World Championship squad went on to make the 2004 Olympic Team.

Here are a few highlights to keep an eye on in Melbourne:

U.S. Relays
Team USA swept all the relays at the 2006 Mutual of Omaha Pan Pacific Championships, setting one world, three American and six Championships records. But with the whole world gunning for them in Australia, that feat will be a challenge to repeat. Currently, the Americans own world records in two of the men's relays (400m freestyle and 400m medley relays).

How Many Records Will He Break?
People weren't necessarily asking the question of Michael Phelps (Baltimore, Md.) in 2003, but after his performance at the World Championships in Barcelona, they might be this time around. Phelps became the first person since Mark Spitz at the 1972 Olympic Games, to break at least five world records in one meet when he took down world records in the 100m butterfly, 200m fly, 200m individual medley (twice) and the 400m IM. He was named the Swimmer of the Meet after winning six medals - four of them gold.

Earlier this month, Phelps provided an indication of what’s to come in Australia, breaking his own world record in the 200m butterfly during the finals of the 2007 Missouri Grand Prix, Feb. 16-19 in Columbia, Mo.

Coughlin's Comeback
Natalie Coughlin (Vallejo, Calif.) had high hopes for the 2003 World Champs, having qualified for four individual events and possibly all three relays. However, Coughlin fell ill at the beginning of the meet, which limited her ability to compete. Despite that, she still helped Team USA to a gold in the 400m free relay and a silver in the 400m medley relay. She also finished eighth in the 100m fly. Coughlin recovered without much of a hitch, making the 2004 Olympic Team and winning five Olympic medals – two of them gold – which was the most of any female at the 2004 Games. Since then, Coughlin has racked up 11 medals – five of them gold – in major international competitions. At the 2006 Pan Pacifics, she captured four golds, finishing with a six-medal haul from Victoria.

The World Record Trio
Two of the three members of The Texas Trio – Ian Crocker (Portland, Maine), Brendan Hansen (Havertown, Pa.) and Aaron Peirsol (Irvine, Calif.) – broke world records last summer, and whenever these three take a dip in the pool, records are at risk of being broken. Last summer, Hansen took down the 100m breaststroke world record once and the 200m breast record twice. Peirsol lowered his own world mark in the 200m back in 2006, a race in which he has not lost at a major international competition since 2000.

The three are each competing in their fourth World Championship. They have a combined 22 World medals (16 of them gold), and all three won individual gold in their signature events at the 2005 World Champs in Montreal.

Worth noting is the rivalry between Crocker and Phelps in the 100m fly, which initially heated up in 2003 when Crocker shocked the world by out touching Phelps for the world record and the gold medal. Since then, the two have gone head-to-head at numerous major meets. Three of the times Crocker has beaten Phelps, it has been a world record.

Breakout Stars
Both Whitney Myers (Oxford, Ohio) and Cullen Jones (New Brunswick, N.J.) have the potential to retain the title of Team USA's breakout stars in 2007. Myers turned heads in 2006 when she defeated U.S. teammate Katie Hoff in the 200m individual medley at Pan Pacs, narrowly missing Hoff's American record by six-hundredths. Jones gave the swimming community reason to buzz when he beat defending world champion Roland Schoeman of South Africa in the 50m free at Pan Pacs. Jones also became the first African-American swimmer to break a long-course world record as a member of the 400m free relay team that captured gold and brought the world record back to the USA for the first time since 2000.

Both Myers and Jones earned year-end accolades at the 2006 Golden Goggle Awards. Myers took home Female Performance of the Year, and Jones won Breakout Performer of the Year and Relay Performance of the Year.

Keep An Eye On The Record
Olympian Katie Hoff (Towson, Md.) has been threatening to break a world record for some time now, and this may just be the meet in which she finally takes one down. The 17-year-old, who has held the American record in the 200m IM since 2005, was within reach of that world mark twice in 2006, at both the ConocoPhillips USA Swimming National Championships and the Mutual of Omaha Pan Pacific Championships. In Irvine, she was three-tenths ahead of world record pace in the 200m IM after the breaststroke leg, but couldn't hold on down the final stretch. Less than a month later in Victoria, both she and Myers were just under a half second ahead at the 150-meter mark, but neither could touch the wall in time.

Other key events and competitions for U.S. athletes this weekend include:

Diving
U.S. Divers will compete in the 1-meter (women), 3-meter (m/w), 10-meter platform (men), 3-meter synchro (women) and 10-meter synchro (men) events at the FINA World Championships this weekend. Troy Dumais (Ventura, Calif.) and Allison Brennan (Huntington Beach, Calif.) have moved on to the finals in the 3-meter and 1-meter semifinals, respectively.

Synchronized Swimming
The synchronized swimming events will wrap-up this weekend with the duet free final and the team free final. The U.S. team earned a bronze medal in the team technical event earlier in the week.

Water Polo
The U.S. teams are four-for-four after the men defeated South Africa Thursday, 14-4, to win their second World Championship preliminary round match. With two wins a piece under their belt, both the men and women will face their toughest opponents in their final bracket games. The U.S. Men face Croatia on Saturday while the U.S. Women take on Greece Friday.