The recent measures being put in place in Ireland and the United Kingdom in response to the coronavirus threat have resulted in some key announcements from their governing sporting bodies.
Both Swim Ireland and British Swimming have announced that their National trial meets; The Irish Open and British Swimming Championships which are set to take place from April 1st-5th and April 14th-19th, respectively, are going ahead as planned.
More information on both events will be announced on March 16th, when the FINA taskforce set up to manage any COVID19 – related decisions have reviewed the situation.
The FINA Taskforce have confirmed they will review the situation on Monday (16 March). At present the British Swimming Championships and British Para-Swimming International Meet will also go ahead as planned in April.
— Aquatics GB (@Aquatics_GB) March 12, 2020
The news today has resulted in the Irish athletes that were due to travel to Scotland for the Edinburgh International Swim Meet this weekend staying at home, according to a tweet sent out by National Head Coach, Ben Higson.
According to a statement released yesterday on the Edinburgh International Swim Meet website, the event is going ahead as planned; “There are no plans to cancel the event in line with that guidance and we are proceeding in the expectation that the event will go ahead”.
Due to the increased risk of the Coronavirus @swimireland 🇮🇪☘️athletes have not travelled to @edintmeet. Good luck to all athletes competing & stay safe 🙏
— Ben Higson (@BenHigson1) March 12, 2020
Swim Ireland has also announced that all clubs must cancel any competitions, meetings, events or gatherings, and either cancel or postpone any international trips planned for March and April.
As of publishing there are 127,784 confirmed cases of COVID19 worldwide, with 456 of those in the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland) and 43 in Ireland (that number is for the entire country).
Not so sure this will stand. Chief medical officer here in the UK is modelling the pandemic and is on TV as I write this saying the peak will be April in to May – Right when Champs are scheduled. Euro swimmers tapers could be destroyed by this – USA & Australia definitely benefitting from later Champs this time.
There’s a chance BS will change policy, auto select a few standout stars, and push trials back for ‘others’.
I reckon they will just put it behind closed doors.
Will they be allowed to? You’ll still have hundreds of athletes and coaches. One thing I know, British Swimming will not disrupt the prep of Peaty, Scott, Anderson etc, and rightly so imo.
Johnson seems to be taking a markedly different approach to other countries so far. Could minimise it by doing a virtual meet with people just competing in regions?
If pools get shut to the public it would be easy to limit travel/numbers by holding concurrent events at, say, the Olympic pool, Ponds Forge and Tollcross then taking those who hit qualifying times/come top 2 across all regions.
Not ideal but better than nothing.