Further to our communication yesterday (17th March) stating that British Swimming and the Home Nations have decided to suspend the published Qualifying Window dates and process with immediate effect, we are now in a position to provide further advice on the updated invite process for the summer meets.
As you will appreciate, the guidance around staging events
is subject to change over the coming weeks. Working on the assumption that
it is viable for the 2020 British Summer Championships and 2020 Home Nation
Summer Meets to take place, we will be inviting athletes on the basis of
retrospective long-course performances achieved in the
period 1st July 2019 to 12th March 2020. No performance after this date will
be considered. This is the case even if some meets start to take place in May.
For para-swimmers, the qualification process will remain the same, however the qualification window will be slightly longer, with performances from 1st April 2019 to 12 March 2020 being considered. The top 20 swimmers per event, scoring more than 550 British Para-Swimming points, will be invited.
Only performances that feature on the British rankings (www.swimmingresults.org) and have been achieved at licensed meets will be eligible.
The process for invites, including notification dates, will be announced in due course. Given the current circumstances, your understanding of the need for this change to the process is appreciated.
Further information will be published in due
course.
Update
The decision making around the qualifying window for the British Summer Championships was made by our Performance Implementation Group which comprises representatives of both the British Swimming and the respective Home Nation performance swimming programmes. No decision around qualifying windows, dates or standards are taken lightly as we understand the impact these have on training, preparation and competition plans for athletes, their coaches and families. On this occasion, the Performance Implementation Group have had to weigh up a range of factors to arrive at a workable solution in the context of current Government guidance, but ultimately unanimously decided on the 1stJuly 2019 to 12th March 2020 window. As with all such decisions, there will be some individuals impacted more than others, but on balance the proposed window is viewed as being the fairest for the majority.