ANOROC MEET (AUSTRIA)
- Thursday, December 17th – Sunday, December 20th
- Graz, Austria
- LCM (50m)
- Olympic Qualifying Competition
- Live Stream Links
- Start Lists/Results
The Austrian Short Course Championships were originally scheduled to take place this upcoming weekend; however, due to coronavirus restrictions, the meet has been canceled.
In its place, however, the Austrian Swimming Federation (OSV) has arranged for a small competition in Graz, which will be held in long course. The meet has also just acquired FINA sanctioning to make it an official Olympic qualifying event.
OSV Sports Director Walter Bär said of this development, “At the moment, our swimmers rarely have the opportunity to compete in competitions and check-in on their performance. It was therefore important to us that we can hold the event in Graz.
“We are of course particularly pleased that the FINA is giving the meeting an additional upgrade with the Olympic Qualifier Status. This also increases the motivation of our athletes enormously.”
A maximum of 100 women and 100m men are able to participate, with each having to provide a negative COVID-19 test before admittance.
While most of the World Championships team will be present, a few of the country’s biggest names will be missing from the meet. That includes Felix Auboeck, who was the country’s top male finisher at the 2019 World Championships when he placed 13th in the 400 free, as well as Patrick Staber, who also swam at Worlds last year.
Below is a sampling of entrants for the meet:
- Nina Gangl
- Lena Grabowski (2019 Worlds Team member, 17th in the 200 back)
- Claudia Hufnagl
- Marlene Kahler (2019 Worlds team member, 14th in the 400 free)
- Lena Kreundl
- Caroline Pilhatsch (2019 World Championship finalist, finishing 7th in the 50 back)
- Bernhard Reitshammer (2019 Worlds team member)
- Christopher Rothbauer
- Valentin Bayer (2019 Worlds team breaststroker)