Budapest, Hungary will host the 2017 World Junior Championships, the 2021 FINA World Championships and the 2021 World Masters Championships. The swimming, water polo, synchronized swimming and diving events will be held in three venues that are within a 3 kilometre radius of each other in the centre of Budapest.
Two of the facilities are ready to go, the Komjadi Complex, which will be used as a training facility and the Alfred Hajos Complex, which will be the main site for the water polo competition. The Hungarian Swimming Federation has announced that the construction of the third facility, the Palace of Pools, would begin next year, with the goal of being completed by the end of 2016.
The Palace of Pools will be the main competition facility and will host swimming, synchronized swimming, diving and the water polo finals. The facility will consist of an indoor 50 meter competition pool, an indoor warm up pool, an outdoor 50 meter pool, leisure pools, an entertainment centre and the FINA Market Street.
In addition to these three facilities the open water and high diving events will be held 120 kilometres outside of the city centre at Lake Balaton.
And to build this new complex the government has already decided to tear down and put an end to one of the city’s most popular and beloved baths, with the largest thermal water pool and several fully functional top notch pools. Many locals are highly upset about these plans, as it is more than likely that with the replacement of the highly popular Dagaly bath the entry prices of the new swimming complex will be significantly higher, which means that most citizens won’t be able to use the facilities anymore! Building a new swimming complex for the Championships? Why not! Tearing down and completely destroying a fully funtioning and highly popular bath with a long history? No thanks!