Kazan, Russia has added hosting duties for the 2022 World Short Course Championships to its list of desire bidding opportunities, the Russian Swimming Federation announced on Saturday after a meeting of its board.
The Russian federation also announced that Kazan has bid for the 2017 World Junior Championships.
The bidding deadline for the 2022 and 2024 Short Course World Championships (Kazan is applying only for the former), is August 25th, 2016, and includes hosting duties for that year’s FINA World Aquatics Convention.
The 6-day meet features prelims in the morning sessions and semi-finals (for races 100 meters and shorter) and finals (for all races) in the evening sessions.
Kazan hosted both the 2013 World University Games (Summer Universiade) and the 2015 multi-discipline FINA World Aquatics Championship. With over 10,000 and 2,400 athletes participating, respectively, both of those events are much bigger than the 1,300 that were attracted for the 2014 World Short Course Championships.
The Russians fared very well at their home World University Games, where they led both the swimming and overall medals tables. That included 17 swimming golds, almost triple the next-closest result from the Americans (6).
Russia was also dominant in synchronized swimming at the 2015 World Championships (they won 8 of 9 available events), but were less successful in standard swimming. The country won just 4 medals in swimming, with the only gold being a 100 breaststroke win from Yulia Efimova, who was racing shortly after returning from a doping suspension.
FINA is indicating in the call for bidders that “any multi-purpose arena” could be used, implying a preference a preference for a facility larger than a typical natatorium. The 2015 World Championships used a temporary pool (and 15,000 seats) built inside of the Kazan Arena: a football (soccer) stadium. The swimming portion of the World University Games was hosted in the Aquatics Palace, which includes two 50 meter pools and a 25 meter diving well. That facility has a permanent seating capacity of 3,600.
A full listing of World Short Course Swimming Championships events:
| Year | Date | Edition | Location` | Nations | Athletes | Events | Winner of the medal table | Second of the medal table | Third of the medal table |
| 1993 | December 2 – 5 | I | Palma de Mallorca, Spain | 46 | 313 | 16 (m), 16 (f) | China | United States | Australia |
| 1995 | November 30 – December 3 | II | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 57 | 350 | 16 (m), 16 (f) | Australia | China | Brazil |
| 1997 | April 17 – 20 | III | Gothenburg, Sweden | 71 | 501 | 16 (m), 16 (f) | Australia | China | Sweden |
| 1999 | April 1 – 4 | IV | Hong Kong, China | 61 | 516 | 20 (m), 20 (f) | Australia | Japan | Great Britain |
| 2000 | March 16 – 19 | V | Athens, Greece | 78 | 563 | 20 (m), 20 (f) | United States | Sweden | Germany |
| 2002 | April 3 – 7 | VI | Moscow, Russia | 92 | 599 | 20 (m), 20 (f) | Australia | United States | Sweden |
| 2004 | October 7 – 11 | VII | Indianapolis, USA | 94 | 502 | 20 (m), 20 (f) | United States | Australia | Great Britain |
| 2006 | April 5 – 9 | VIII | Shanghai, China | 117 | 578 | 20 (m), 20 (f) | Australia | United States | China |
| 2008 | April 9 – 13 | IX | Manchester, Great Britain | 116 | 607 | 20 (m), 20 (f) | United States | Australia | Netherlands |
| 2010 | December 15 – 19 | X | Dubai, UAE | 153 | 780 | 20 (m), 20 (f) | United States | Russia | Spain |
| 2012 | December 12 – 16 | XI | Istanbul, Turkey | 162 | 958 | 20 (m), 20 (f) | United States | China | Hungary |
| 2014 | December 3 – 7 | XII | Doha, Qatar | 174 | 1300 | 22 (m), 22 (f), 2 (mixed) | Brazil | Hungary | Netherlands |
| Upcoming | Date | Edition | Location | ||||||
| 2016 | December 7 – 11 | XIII | Windsor, Canada | ||||||
| 2018 | TBD | XIV | Hangzhou, China | ||||||
| 2020 | TBD | XV | Abu Dhabi, UAE |