USA Swimming has announced the dates and locations for its 2022 year-end meets. The national governing body will be hosting the 2022 Toyota U.S. Open at the Greensboro Aquatic Center, in Greensboro, NC. The 2022 Speedo Winter Junior Championships – East will also be held at the Greensboro Aquatic Center the week following the U.S. Open, while the Winter Juniors West meet will once again be held in Austin, at the University of Texas.
The U.S. Open is set to be held from November 30-December 3, 2022, while the Winter Junior Championships are set for December 7-10, 2022. The U.S. Open will continue to be held as a Long Course (50m) meet, following the format of last year.
The U.S. Open was a relatively small meet last year, likely due to a combination of factors. Firstly, it conflicted with the International Swimming League post-season, meaning many American athletes who were competing in the ISL didn’t enter in the U.S. Open. Additionally, it came 4 months after the Olympics, after which many swimmers take a break from training, or at the very least, competition. This time around, the ISL will not be running in late 2022, and it’s not an Olympic year, so USA Swimming says they expect hundreds of athletes, including members of this year’s U.S. National Team, National Junior Team, 2020 U.S. Olympic team and 2022 FINA World Championships U.S. roster.”
The Winter Junior Championships typically move host locations from year to year, but this year will be the same as last. Since the Winter Junior Championships split into two meets, an East and a West, the East meet has been held in Atlanta and Knoxville, as well as Greensboro. The West meet has been held in Austin, Federal Way, and Iowa City.
In the last Olympic Quad, the US Open was the first Trials qualifying event 20ish months before Trials was scheduled. Will this year be LCM and the same qualifying event?
Spencer, you totally missed the real reason that the Open was small. Senior Nationals swimmers are allowed to swim their individual events at the Junior Meet. It’s great from the Team aspect, but bad from the Senior National competition level.