2020 New Zealand OLY Trials On Schedule Sans Fans; Add’l Qualifying Meet Added

2020 NEW ZEALAND OPEN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, March 31st – Saturday, April 4th
• Sir Owen G. Glenn Aquatic Centre, Auckland, NZL
• 50m (LCM)
• Olympic Trials Meet
• Psych Sheets
• NZL Olympic Selection Policy

The 2020 New Zealand Open Championships, the nation’s primary means of qualifying for this year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, is slated to kick-off on Thursday, March 31st.

Similar to the Brazilian Olympic Trials and the Japan Open, this NZL Olympic Trials meet will remain on schedule, but be held without spectators due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) global outbreak.

The NZL meet spans 5 days and is being held at the nation’s Sir Owen G. Glenn Aquatic Centre in Auckland. As of the time of publishing, Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center lists 6 COVID-19 cases as having been reported within New Zealand.

Unique to New Zealand is the fact they’ve announced they will be scheduling an additional qualification meet in June. This is meant to accommodate incoming athletes who are not able to make it to New Zealand in time for these Championships due to the growing travel restrictions being placed around the world. Details of this new trial event will be communicated later this week.

Below is the meat of Swimming New Zealand’s statement posted Sunday, March 15th.

1. The Championships will continue as planned but we will not be allowing spectators to enter the facility.
2. The Championships will be live streamed free-to-air on the Sky Sport Next YouTube channel.
3. We will be holding an additional Olympic trial event in June for those athletes who are not able to compete at the Championships due to the existing inbound travel restrictions and/or are unable to trial at the pre-approved northern hemisphere events due to these being cancelled.  Details of this additional Olympic trial event will be notified within the next 72 hours.