Swimming World Cup kicks off in Rio

With the big summer meets now in the rearview mirror, swimming takes a break for a few months, right?

Wrong.

The seven-meet FINA World Cup kicks off below the equator in Rio de Janeiro this weekend. Finals sessions will be broadcast live on UniversalSports.com beginning at 9 a.m. ET Saturday and Sunday. Click here to sign up to watch both days.

Each of the seven events on the circuit are short-course, meaning the pools are 25 meters long instead of the Olympic distance of 50 meters. This often leads to exciting and fast races as swimmers can use the walls to their advantage moreso than in long-course pools.

Representing the U.S. in Brazil will be Peter Marshall and Randall Bal, two veterans of the short-course season. Marshall finished third in the men's standings during the 2009 World Cup, earning 126 points and a $30,000 check. He set the 50m backstroke world record three times during the series.

Like Marshall, Bal's top events are the 50m and 100m backstroke. Bal most recently found success at a few long-course meets in Europe earlier this year, where he won both events in France and Luxembourg.

Other top names competing in Rio are Cesar Cielo (Brazil) and Therese Alshammar (Sweden). Cielo owns the 50m and 100m freestyle long-course world records but has struggled in 2010. At the recent Pan-Pacific Championships in California, Cielo said his lack of finishing speed in the sprint freestyle events is costing him precious seconds.

Alshammar nearly won the women's overall title at the 2009 World Cup, finishing 10 points behind American Jessica Hardy. She owns the short- and long-course world records in the 50m butterfly, both set last year.