Five-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist Alicia Coutts has withdrawn from the inaugural Summer Swim Series this weekend due to illness.

Coutts, who is coached by John Fowlie at the AIS, picked up a gastro infection in the last couple of days and has had to pull out of the event which will be run at the historic North Sydney Pool on Saturday and Sunday.

‘It’s disappointing to be missing the event this weekend, and to not get the chance to swim with my new team which is captained by Susie O’Neill,’ said Coutts.

‘Hopefully the infection is nothing too serious and I can recover quickly from it, and I hope to see Team O’Neill really get stuck in over the weekend.’

Coutts’ place in Team O’Neill for the two-day meet will be taken by 16-year-old Queenslander and multiple Australian Age champion Mikkayla Maselli-Sheridan from the Chandler Swim Club.

Five AIS athletes competing in this event are: Sally Foster, Belinda Hocking, Angie Bainbridge, Ashley Delaney and Craig Calder (in bold below).  

2011 Summer Swim Series – Teams

Team Frame (Pink) — Captained by former world champion Linley Frame

Libby Trickett, Alice Mills, Kylie Palmer, Sophie Edington, Rebecca Kemp, Ellen Fullerton, Katie Goldman, Matthew Abood, Kyle Richardson, Kenrick Monk, Bobby Jovanovich, Nicholas Schafer, Geoff Huegill, Kenneth To, Ian Pope (coach), Glenn Baker (coach)

Team O’Neill (Yellow) — Captained by dual Olympic gold medallist Susie O’Neill

Marieke Guehrer, Kelly Stubbins, Bronte Barratt, Grace Loh, Sarah Katsoulis, Mikkayla Maselli-Sheridan, Emma McKeon, Nicholas Ffrost, Daniel Arnamnart, Christian Sprenger, Andrew Lauterstein, Travis Nederpelt, Kris Taylor, Te Haumi Maxwell, Peter Bishop (coach), Stephan Widmer (coach)

Team Klim (Green) — Captain by dual Olympic gold medallist Michael Klim

Sally Foster, Emily Seebohm, Blair Evans, Whitney Ireland, Leiston Pickett, Madeline Groves, Brittany Elmslie, Eamon Sullivan, Patrick Murphy, Braiden Camm, Brenton Rickard, Mitchell Patterson, Grant Irvine, Leith Brodie, Matt Brown (coach) Grant Stoelwinder (coach)

Team Welsh (Blue) — Captained by five-time world champion Matt Welsh

Alexandra Purcell, Kotuku Ngawati, Meagen Nay, Belinda Hocking, Leisel Jones, Stephanie Rice, Angie Bainbridge, Ashley Callus, James Magnussen, Thomas Fraser-Holmes, Ashley Delaney, Craig Calder, Chris Wright, Robert Hurley, Rohan Taylor (coach), Michael Bohl (coach).