New Zealand Swimming has taken its first major move into the Tokyo 2020 Olympics by setting new national team time standards and identifying a development squad of potential 2020 Olympians.
In the past, New Zealand Swimming has had three different squads at the highest level, a national team, a development squad, and a group of younger “Talent ID” swimmers. Now, it has consolidated the latter two groups under the “development squad” umbrella. You can read a full breakdown of the restructuring here.
The new national team time standards reflect the FINA B qualifying standards, and the national development squad is selected using FINA’s point system. Although the current squad has already been determined, the 2017 squads will be decided based on swimmers’ performances at the 2017 NZ National Age and Open Championships and the 2017 Australian Age Championships. The 2017 team will be announced in May of 2017. Additional ‘wildcard’ swimmers can be added by the team’s coach without making the time standards.
Swimmers on New Zealand‘s current Tokyo 2020 development squad include Rio 2016 Olympic semifinalists Bradlee Ashby and Corey Main; Rio 2016 Olympians Helena Gasson and Emma Robinson; and Georgia triplets Mick Litherland and Kevin Litherland. You can see a full breakdown here.
2017 NEW ZEALAND NATIONAL SQUAD QUALIFYING STANDARDS
(FINA B Qualifying Standards)
2017 NEW ZEALAND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT SQUAD STANDARDS
2016 SWIMMING NEW ZEALAND TOKYO 2020 DEVELOPMENT SQUAD
Swimmer | Club | Home Coach | Discipline |
Alex Peach | United Swim Club | Overseas | Pool |
Andrew Trembath | Neptune Swim Club | Clive Power | Pool |
Annabelle Paterson | United Swim Club | Igor Polianski | Pool |
Bayley Main | Howick Pakuranga | Gregg Troy (overseas) | Pool |
Bradlee Ashby | Fairfeild Swim Club | Clive Power/Mat Woofe | Pool |
Bobbi Gichard | Howick Pakuranga | Clive Power/Mat Woofe | Pool |
Corey Main | Howick Pakuranga | Gregg Troy (overseas) | Pool |
Corneille Coetzee | North Shore Swim Club | Thomas Ansorg | Pool |
Caroline Baddock | North Shore Swim Club | Brett Hawkes (overseas) | Pool |
Daniel Hunter | Howick Pakuranga | Jana Wilkitzki | Pool |
Emma Robinson | Capital Swim Club | David Proud (overseas) | Pool |
Gabrielle Fa’amausili | United Swim Club | Igor Polianski | Pool |
Georgia Marris | United Swim Club | Igor Polianski | Pool |
George Schroder | Hokitika Swim Club | Clive Power/Mat Woofe | Pool |
Hayley McIntosh | Northwave Swim Club | Monica Cooper | Pool |
Helena Gasson | North Shore Swim Club | Thomas Ansorg | Pool |
Jeffrey Arona-Tuifanae’ | Howick Pakuranga | Clive Power/Mat Woofe | Pool |
Jackson Dawson | Waterhole Swim Club | Gwen Ryan | Open Water |
Jacob Garrod | North Shore Swim Club | Thomas Ansorg | Pool |
Julian Layton | Greendale Swim Club | Chris Mooney (overseas) | Pool |
Jonathan Rutter | Roskill Swim Club | Josh Munro | Pool |
Kate Godfrey | Neptune Swim Club | Genadiy Labara | Pool |
Kevin Litherland | Mount Albert Grammar | Overseas | Pool |
Mario Koenesperger | Howick Pakuranga | Jana Wilkitzki | Pool |
Matthew Hyde | Matamata Swim Club | Graeme Laing | Pool |
Matthew Scott | Enterprise Swim Club | Matt Martin | Open Water |
Max Polianski | United Swim Club | Clive Power/Mat Woofe | Pool |
Monique King | North Shore Swim Club | Thomas Ansorg | Pool |
Mick Litherland | Mount Albert Grammar | Overseas | Pool |
Mya Rasmussen | Kiwi West Aquatics | Andrew Nicholls | Pool |
Natasha Lloyd | North Canterbury Swim Club | Brett Hawkes (overseas) | Pool |
Paige Flynn | St Peters Swimming Academy | Glenn Baker | Pool |
Sam Perry | St Peters Swimming Academy | Overseas | Pool |
Stefannie Gillespie | Zenith Swim Club | Stefannie Gillespie | Open Water |
Wilrich Coetzee | North Shore Swim Club | Thomas Ansorg | Pool |
Looks like Jerry’s bringing some stability to the program. Looking forward to watching the progress moving toward 2020.