On Monday, FINA, the international governing body for 6 aquatic disciplines, updated its list of cancellations and postponements as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic.
At the moment, it appears as though FINA is currently targeting a September or October time frame to resume international competition.
Among the sweeping cancellations, the remaining 8 stops of the Artistic Swimming World Series (synchronized swimming) have been canceled, as have 4 of the remaining 5 stops of the FINA Marathon Swimming World Series. The one remaining race in the MSWS is the stop in the Seychelles, which was originally scheduled for August 18th but will be postponed (with new dates to be confirmed). The Syechelles have only 11 confirmed cases of coronavirus so far and no deaths.
The Water Polo World League will be held in September/October. Among the 2 remaining Diving World Series dates, Kazan will be rescheduled for later this year, while London is canceled. 3 of the 4 remaining stops on the Diving Grand Prix circuit (Windsor, Kuala Lumpur, and Cairo) are being postponed, while Singapore is being canceled.
No new dates for any FINA Olympic qualifying events have been announced either.
Latest FINA Schedule Updates
Olympic Games 2021
23 July – 08 August 2021 – Tokyo2021
Olympic Games Qualifying Events
- March 8-15 – Trieste (ITA) – OG2020 Women ‘s WP Qualification Tournament – The competition postponed. New dates to be confirmed.
- March 22-29 – Rotterdam (NED) – OG2020 Men ‘s WP Qualification Tournament – The competition is postponed. New dates to be confirmed.
- May 30 – 31 – Fukuoka (JPN) – 2020 Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier – The event is postponed. New dates to be confirmed.
- April 21-26 – Tokyo (JPN) – Diving World Cup – The event is postponed. New dates to be confirmed
- April 30-May 3 – Tokyo (JPN) – Artistic Swimming OG Qualifying Event – The event is postponed. Place and dates to be confirmed
Diving Grand Prix
- May 14-17 – Windsor (CAN) – The event is postponed. New dates to be confirmed
- May 29-31 – Singapore (SGP) – The event is cancellled
- June 05-07 – Kuala Lumpur (MAS) – The event is postponed. New dates to be confirmed.
- June 26-28 – Cairo (EGY) – The event is postponed. New dates to be confirmed.
Diving World Series
- March 20-22 – Kazan (RUS) – The event is postponed to September/October 2020
- March 27-29 – London (GBR) – The event is cancelled.
Water Polo
- Water Polo World League Men and Women – The competition is postponed to September/October 2020
Artistic Swimming World Series
These events are cancelled:
- March 27-29 – Hurghada (EGY)
- April 3-5 – Alexandroupolis (GRE)
- April 10-12 – Budapest (HUN)
- April 17-19 – Kazan (RUS)
- April 23-25 – Suzhou (CHN)
- May 29-31 – Madrid (ESP)
- June 12-14 – Rochester (USA)
- June 18-20 – Windsor (CAN)
Marathon Swim World Series
These events are cancelled:
- June 6 – Budapest (HUN)
- June 13 – Setubal (POR)
- July 19 – Lac St Jean (CAN)
- August 01 – Lac Megantic (CAN)
The event in Victoria is postponed. New dates to be confirmed.
August 18 – Victoria (SEY)
Schools, Coaches Clinics, Development programme
All schools and clinics to be held until the end of March 2020 are postponed. FINA schools and clinics to be held in April and May will be reviewed by the Taskforce, which meets regularly.
World Championships
FINA says that they are still working on an updated date selection for the 2021 FINA World Aquatics Championships, which are forced to move given their overlap with the new dates for the 2020 Olympic Games.
The biannual event was scheduled from July 16th to August 1st, 2021, which now conflicts with the dates that the International Olympic Committee will use to host the 2020 Olympic Games: July 23rd to August 8th, 2021. The IOC was forced to move the Olympic Games as the result of the global coronavirus pandemic that has now surpassed 1.3 million confirmed infections and almost 74,000 deaths
A survey sent to international-caliber athletes proposes 4 possible makeup dates for the event:
- March or April 2021 prior to the summer Olympic Games
- Immediately after the Olympic Games
- After the Olympic Games in September/October
- In 2022
Current 2021 World Championships status note, from FINA:
“Following the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games to the summer of 2021, FINA is currently reviewing the dates of its 2021 FINA World Championships and FINA World Masters Championships in Fukuoka (JPN). We will update this page with the revised dates for both competitions as soon as a final decision has been taken”
The update made no mention of the 2020 World Short Course Swimming Championships, which have been awarded to Abu Dhabi, UAE and are scheduled for December 15th-20th.
Since all major sports are in hiatus right now, the first sports league that opens up will gain a major audience share.
This is a harebrained idea for a meet limited to National Teamers at the Olympic Trials site (low incidence of Coronavirus in Nebraska). Quarantine them for 14 days then do a test at the end of quarantine to insure that everyone is negative for coronavirus. Run the meet like trials and give the proceeds back to the swim clubs that are struggling.
That’s not actually a bad idea. These sort of big national team exhibition meets were not unusual in prior generations.
Though, doing it at the Olympic Trials site is probably out of the question. The cost of renting that place and installing a pool wouldn’t justify the revenue if there are no spectators.
The IU Natatorium in Indy would be a good site for this. Plenty of (empty) hotels within walking distance to quarantine the swimmers ahead of time..
What about the FINA ultramarathon? Macedonian, Croatia, Capri-Napoli, Santa Fe and Rosario?
What about world JRs?
Any word on 18&u international meets?