The third and final stop of USA Swimming’s Pro Series in San Antonio had its entries open today. Coaches have told SwimSwam that the meet reached its entry cap within the first five minutes of opening.
This is not the first time that a major USA Swimming event has filled up fast. In October 2023, the US Open reached its entry cap of “approximately” 800 swimmers within just three hours. An overflow meet was added two hours from Greensboro.
Today, the San Antonio had an entry cap of “approximately” 600 swimmers. The entry deadline was set for April 2nd OR when the entry cap was reached, which happened in less than five minutes. Entries opened today, February 13th at 10:00 am Mountain Time (Noon Eastern Time).
The word “approximately” is used as there are some swimmers who are exempt from the entry cap. Those swimmers include any athlete who has achieved the World Aquatics “A” Time Standard from the 2024 World Championships, any 2023-24 U.S. National Team Member, or any 2023-24 U.S. National Junior Team Member.
Another rule allows for U.S. swimmers that are exempt from the entry cap as well as their teams to enter the meet a week early, meaning those athletes and teams were able to enter February 6th at 10:00 am mountain time.
USA Swimming said that they will seek World Aquatics approval for the meet to be used as a qualifier for the 2024 Olympic Games.
Update: USA Swimming replied to SwimSwam’s request for comment after the original publication. USA Swimming said that they now will host “more than 800 athletes” at the meet, which likely includes those cap-exempt athletes. They also said that they do not have plans to add additional national competitions like they did for the US Open in December.
A spokesperson also says that the popularity has not prompted a review of time standards for future seasons.
Time standards for the meet can be seen below. All of the LCM time standards are the same as last year’s with the exception of the men’s 800 free that got about three seconds faster. The SCY time standards changed slightly more often but with only minor changes of a few tenths in most events.
The San Antonio stop will be the final of the three-stop 2024 Pro Swim Series that USA Swimming announced in August 2023. The dates for the three stops are:
- January 10-13: Knoxville, Tennessee
- March 6-9: Westmont, Illinois
- April 10-13: San Antonio, Texas
The meet in Texas will conclude with just over two months until the 2024 USA Olympic Trials begin as Trials begin on June 15th in Indianapolis.
The Pro Swim Series meets were slow to pick up after the COVID-19 pandemic but it seems as if demand has increased again. Although the San Antonio meet has the same entry cap of “approximately” 600 swimmers as the other two stops do, the San Antonio timing is most likely more preferred. The Westmont meet stands right in the middle of most conference meets and NCAAs while the Knoxville stop was during dual meet season and in the heart of winter training.
Has the now updated 800 person entry cap also reached its limit?
Who knows how many spots were taken before Tuesday. Our team has national and junior national team members so we entered on the earlier date.
And i bet half of the pros that are being let in and taking spots from other qualifying swimmers will be selfish and scratch half their events the day before.
That’s if they even turn up.
in under 5 minutes is crazy 😭
based on Knoxville we’ll be lucky if 300 show up and actually swim
So effectively, elite swimmers have very few prime opportunities to pop off in LCM during the Olympic year?
The elite are cap exempt. It’s those outside the world’s top 50ish in each event and one swim away from a big breakthrough that get royally screwed
What a mess
I was gonna say (now since it’s been updated to 800)… how is one of the largest venues to host a large number of athletes not doing more than 600? Seemed like a waste of huge, beautiful natatorium (again, until they went to 800).