USA Swimming has released dates and host locations for the Winter 2025 National Championship meets and 2026 National Championship meets.
Announced 2025-2026 Events:
- US Open – December 3-6, 2025 – Austin, Texas (University of Texas)
- Winter Junior Championships East – December 10-13, 2025 – Indianapolis, Indiana (IU Natatorium)
- Winter Junior Championships West – December 10-13, 2025 – Austin, Texas (University of Texas)
- Open Water National Championships – April 2-4, 2026 – Sarasota, Florida (Nathan Benderson Park)
- US National Championships – July 28-August 1, 2026 – Irvine, California (William Woollett Junior Aquatics Center)
- Pan Pacific Championships – August 12-15, 2026 – Irvine, California (William Woollett Junior Aquatics Center)
Other meets, including the Pro Swim Series, will be announced later this year.
The season’s national calendar will begin in Austin for the US Open in Long Course Meters; a week later, Winter Juniors will be held in Short Course Yards in Austin and Indianapolis, two bedrock facilities and cities for United States swimming.
While Indianapolis has remained a regular host, Austin hasn’t hosted a big senior-level national meet since the 2018 Pro Swim Series.
Open Water Nationals will return to Sarasota, Florida for the fourth consecutive year in early April.
Then the US National Championships and Pan Pacific Championships will both be hosted in Irvine, California in July and August. The 2026 US National Championships will not be a major selection meet in 2026, as USA Swimming is trying a new approach that picks the 2026 Pan Pacs team based on summer 2025 championship results.
Time standards and any selection implications from these meets (including the National Team and 2026 Short Course World Championships team) have not yet been announced.
Don’t love that pan pacs selection is based off of 2025 nationals. Irvine 2026 will be a great tune-up for younger athletes who have a shot at LA 2028, and some may miss out on qualifying with pan pacs selection occurring this year
I despise that this archaic system is still in place. Don’t we need to fine tune our double tapers? Lazy, especially if the meet is at home. There’s no travel excuses or anything.
Katinka already proved this years ago, you can maintain peak form for weeks/ months. Grow up, USA Swimming.
Agreed. First order of business Meehan should do is announce the changing of the 2026 Pan Pac selection to next year. That would go a long way for everyone involved.
they could still qualify based on their times at the later summer nationals or junior worlds i think. i wouldnt be surprised if a couple juniors on the mens side get spots on that basis
Random question – where does the UT team train when their facility gets taken over for a 3 or 4-day meet twice in 2 weeks? Outdoor pool?
That’s where good relationships with the local club teams come into play.