The European Swimming Federation (LEN) Bureau met this week in Rome, Italy, resulting in a few notable decisions.
First, the Bureau decided to move the date and location of the European Junior Open Water Championships. Originally slated to take place in The Netherlands this July, the Championships have been moved to the first or second week of September, with the location still ‘to be determined’ at this point.
The reason for the move is that the Junior Open Water World Championships are now anticipated for July. The OW meet was originally scheduled to take place in Guadalajara, Mexico, but we reported in January that both the Confederacion Argentina de Deportes Acuaticos (Argentinian Swimming Federation) and the Federación Mexicana de Natación (Mexican Swimming Federation) made the decisions to cancel the event.
Another major outcome of the LEN Bureau meeting was the approval of the federation’s 2016 budget, which includes €1,000,000 (~$1.1M) in prize money for athletes and contribution for the participating federations at the 2016 continental championships, including the Europeans in London.
As such, this marks the first time that LEN offers financial awards for the most successful competitors at its main event. National Federations will receive a financial contribution to support the travel and accommodation costs of their athletes.
“In the past four years we’ve managed to improve LEN’s financial situation and we now decided to financially assist National Federations and athletes as their performances continuously raise the level of our wonderful events ” LEN President Paolo Barelli said. “The participation of the most important European teams, the presence of outstanding athletes and the large-scale TV coverage will make our events an unforgettable experience for all aquatics fans.”
This follows suit with the LEN having announced its biggest prize purse ever for the 2015 European Short Course Championships in Netanya, Isreal last December. For that meet, a total of €500,000 ($538,000) was up for grabs among the top 12 male and female athletes based on FINA points.
You can read the LEN’s latest release here.