Differing from years past, the 2018 British Championships will be held in conjunction with the annual Edinburgh International Swim Meet, with competition taking place across 4 days at the Royal Commonwealth Pool. In previous years, including 2017, the two meets have been separated by just under a month. The 2017 Edinburgh Int’l meet took place March 10th-12th, while the British Championships were held separately in April 18th-23rd.
At the 2018 edition of the British Championships combined with the EISM, over 500 competitors are expected to compete, both from near and far. High-profile foreign talent such as Danish Olympic champion Pernille Blume and Dutch world record holder Ranomi Kromowidjojo have made appearances in the past.
All swimming events at the combined meet are set to follow the standard format of prelims and finals, containing both open events and youth, with the latter holding women aged 14-17 and men aged 15-18. Adding to the excitement, 50m events in all strokes will hold skins finals for the open segment, with the first round having 8 swimmers, which then are reduced to 6, then 4, then 3, then 2, alternating between male and female per evening.
Pending FINA approval, the meet will most likely serve as qualification for the 2018 European Championships, the Youth Olympic Games, as well as the European Junior Championships. British Swimming just released the selection criteria for the 2018 European Championships, with swimmers needing to have notched qualifying times during the period of June 1, 2017 and April 10, 2018.
Entries remain open until January 22nd, but you can review the meet information here in the meantime.
