Swimming New Zealand has announced the dates of its 2016 New Zealand Open, which will throw a wrench into the Rio training preparations specifically for those Kiwis competing in the United States’ NCAA championships.
The Open, which doubles as the qualifying meet for the 2016 Olympic games, has been held in late April in the past, but will now be held March 28th-April 1st in 2016. Dates were moved since the previous schedule rendered the Paralympics’ swimmers needing to seek qualification overseas, since the Open would fall outside of qualifying timelines. The late April time frame also did not allow for key national age events to be staged within school holidays, according to the NZ Herald.
With the 2016 NCAA Championships being held March 17-19th (women) and March 24-26th (men), this new timing will leave little time for Kiwi elite swimmers who double as NCAA student athletes to physically travel to their home country, let alone be simultaneously training both short course yards and long course meters to be successful at both in such a short time frame. Affected potential Olympians impacted include Matthew Hutchins, Corey Main and Natasha Lloyd, who compete at the University of Wisconsin, University of Florida, and Auburn University, respectively.
Putting his reaction into words, Big Ten 500 freestyle champion Hutchins said, “I am devastated. Our [college] season finishes two days before the Open and we now have to travel 20 hours and compete the next day. It was previously over a month.” Appreciating his commitment to Wisconsin, Hutchins further stated, “I came [here] to improve my swimming and to achieve a top quality degree – and it has been incredible. Before I left, I was a fair bit away from the qualifying times for Rio. Now, after some incredibly hard training, I am right on them. But it appears to [have] been in vain as the decision to move the Opens has effectively robbed me of my dreams to complete at the Olympics.”
For her part, Lloyd reiterated her national teammate’s sentiments, expressing, “Originally having a month post-NCAAs of long-course training would have been a fantastic lead up, but now we are left with a few days to cope with the massive adjustment from 25 yards to [50] metres. It surprises me changes have been made, [especially] considering some of the swimmers who are likely to qualify for the Olympics are based in America.”
Christian Renford, Swimming New Zealand (SNZ) CEO says that the adjusted date is indeed “the fairest for all competitors” and had buy-in from both high performance coaches and Paralympics New Zealand. He did note that SNZ would work with swimmers based in the United States to “find a solution”.
I agree with nzswimma. move it back a week!
Sneaking in a change to the calendar isn’t really fair. and the kiwi swimmers in the US are busting their guts there because the nz system has been, lets say “average”. Lauren boyle and Matt Stanley aren’t swimming off shore because of the climate…. The US system is proven so nz swimming should back it up, not fight it. Boyle, Moss, Hurring….the list goes on of kiwi greats who did their education in us college.
p.s. does Gina have a problem with all the thousands of non US resident college athletes, or just the kiwi “sponges”? – we really are nice people, give us a break 🙂
So first of all I would like to say I don’t agree with the weather comments, we usually have our Opens meet in mid to late April and we do fine, plus Auckalnd isn’t exactly a cold city. Also all of this could be solved by moving the meet back 1 week and begin in the 4th of April, it gives time for the affected US based athletes, it still allows Aussie based athletes to prepare wth there teams as it still falls before Aussie trials. And let’s be honest most of the NZ swim team is coming from US or Australian based athletes. And I would assume this would still fit the Paralympic requirments (I may be wrong here).So… Read more »
How about if the NZ swimmer was to depart the NCAA meet after the 500 free finals? I’d rather see him go after the Big 10 meet however.
Ther is no problem with this. SNZ has chosen their meet dates around the all the swimmers that they cater to (all age groupers and open swimmers), not just the three or four Olympics hopefuls that CHOSE to leave NZ for paid scholarships in the states.these swimmers will have to chose between representing their college team, or representing their country. And in all honesty Lloyd is very far away from the qualification times so this has no effect on her Olympic bid.
In the earthquake. There is no option for them to move to Auckland to the “High Performance” centre with the circus that’s run there. It’s no wonder no athletes are left in New Zealand.
SNZ gave these athletes no options except to move to the States if they wanted to progress in their sport and now they are punishing them for that move.
The idea of red shirting, especially for the big teams such as Florida, Auburn and Wisconsin means that the athletes forfeit their scholarship for the red shirt year. Where is the money to come from to pay for the year of training, education, food and accomodation for our athletes.
SNZ has made a point… Read more »
Keep on sponging off the US taxpayer . Have you guys actually won anything in NCAA lately? Beats me why they pay for you to be more than ordinary . Then go back home & whine .
That will get you a long way on Planet Rugby .
The reason so many New Zealand athletes had to travel to the U.S. was because there was no place for them to swim in New Zealand. The Christchurch based Lloyd, Hutchins and Batchelor lost all pools
Welcome to International attitudes. Even though swimming in NCAA Universities has helped with their swimmers accomplishments that is not always accepted by the powers that be in their. Nations. No different than not being thought of in a positive way by many in US Swimming especially in the club level for High School age swimming.
Hey guys.it is NZ’s prerogative when to hold their trials . They are usually just after Australian champs but should be before as it is colder in NZ . Everyone swims better & is happier in warmer weather – particularly the 2 weeks going in – need some sunshine not the thought of going in for hibernation .
There are equal numbers of NZ swimmers in Australia & this would suit them fine – being able to Taper concurrently with their squads . I haven’t seen the OZ trials but holding NZ a bit before , they could attract some OZ swimmers for a hit out .
I just checked – they are 8-15 April in adelaide . So these NZ races are perfect for Aust East coasters .
If the NZ Ncaa swimmers cared enough then they will be at trials It is not as if they are going to win NCAAs. Wisconsin , Florida & Auburn ( women ) are not top ranked & should view a possible NZ Olympian as a better PR / recruitment flag than a 24th placed finisher .