Th3 ANOC World Beach Games, which will see their inaugural edition hosted in San Diego in 2019, will include an open water 5km swim, for which athletes will qualify via the 2019 World Aquatics Championships.
While most of the open focus at 2019 Worlds in Gwangju, South Korea, will be a top 10 finish in the 10km race to lock-in a spot at the 2020 Olympics, the 5km now gains some added significance (beyond the obvious World title and prize money in play).
2019 World Beach Games Qualifying Procedure
- The men’s and women’s races will each have 30 athletes: 29 qualified, plus 1 each reserved for the host country (the United States).
- For each gender, the top 20 finishers in the 5k race at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships will earn a qualifying spot for their nation (meaning that the nation can send a different athlete than the one that finished top 20 to qualify).
- The remaining 10 slots per gender will be awarded on a continental basis, with 2 slots to each of the 5 continents. The top finisher from each continent, of a country not already qualified, will earn a spot for their national federation; while the 2nd spot will be the next-best finisher from Worlds in each continent, but from a different country. In other words, the 10 continental qualifying spots will be awarded to 10 different countries. On the off-chance that the US doesn’t have a swimmer qualified via one of these two routes, their hosting spot counts as the first qualifying spot for the Americas.
- If countries decline their spot, they go to the ext-best finisher at Worlds.
- Each country can send a maximum of 2 athletes.
- All other rules for eligibility, similar to those that would make an athlete eligible for the World Championships, apply.
The men’s 5km race at the 2019 World Championships will be held on July 13th, while the women’s race will be held on July 17th. Countries will then have until July 24th to confirm their qualifying spots, and until August 15th to name their selected athletes.
The 2019 World Beach Games will be held from October 10th-14th, with the 5km races scheduled to take place on October 12th.
Race Course
The race will take place in the Pacific Ocean ear the mouth of Mission Bay, just south of La Jolla.
The race course is the dotted lines starting near the #23 on the left-side of the map below (click to enlarge).