2020 IRISH WINTER MEET
- Thursday, December 17th – Saturday, December 19th
- National Aquatic Centre, Dublin, Ireland
- SCM (25m) for heats; LCM (50m) for finals
- Select Group of Elites Only
- Results to be provided by Swim Ireland
Due to coronavirus restrictions, the annual Swim Ireland National Championships have been scaled back to become the 2020 Irish Winter Meet.
As we reported earlier this month, the number of participants at the elite meet has been drastically reduced from its usual 600 count to over a handful. This was specifically to adhere to the government mandate released stating that no matches or other sporting events can take place, with only an exception made for ‘elite’ sports.
Against this backdrop, we’re seeing an exclusive grouping of athletes to the tune of Darragh Greene, Shane Ryan and Danielle Hill arriving in Dublin to contest the unique format of short course in the heats and long course in the finals.
Although there are no official start lists, below is the schedule that will is expected to be followed. Results will be provided by Swim Ireland.
Speaking ahead of the meet, Swim Ireland National Performance Director Jon Rudd said: “We are very excited to be able to host this competition for the relatively small number of Performance athletes that are permitted to race at this time.
“It will be good to see where our potential Olympians for Tokyo and our other international prospects for 2021 are at this juncture.
“We are only able to accommodate around 10% of those athletes that would normally race at this time, under the current regulations, and what would have been a National Championships in more normal times, is simply a racing opportunity against the stopwatch for our premier swimmers.
“The support that we have received from Sport Ireland and the National Aquatic Centre to allow us to provide this competitive opportunity has been fantastic, and we hope that it provides hope and stimulus for those in our swimming community that will be looking forward to returning to competition in 2021.”