The two biggest domestic meets for US swimmers are coming quickly, and according to the latest weather reports, it’s going to be a hot couple of weeks for swimmers at these meets. We’re not talking Southern California hot, either. Temperatures topped out in the low 80s (roughly 28°C for you international folks) for last summer’s championship meets in Irvine, with a nice breeze keeping it from even feeling that warm usually.
This year, both the 2015 Speedo Junior National Championships and the 2015 Phillips 66 National Championships will be taking place at the Northside Center in San Antonio, Texas. The latest forecast is calling for temperatures around 100 (37°C) each day of the junior national meet (July 30th-August 3rd) and little to no chance of rain, and probably not much difference a week later for the senior championship meet.
Now, if these meets were being held in, say, Indianapolis, the temperature would not cause much concern, as the meet would be held indoors. However, the next two weeks, athletes at these summer championships meets will be competing outdoors in San Antonio. The stands are covered, and there is a 50m pool inside for warmups, but the athletes, officials, and coaches on deck will be warm, to say the least.
It’s hard to predict exactly what effect, if any, the temperature will have on the competitors. On one hand, swimming outdoors in the summer is nothing new for many swimmers, even at different levels. Summer league meets in the USA are largely held in outdoor neighborhood pools. On the other end of the competitive spectrum, the 2009 Rome World Championships and 2004 Athens Summer Olympic swimming competitions were held in outdoor pools, and in 1996, the Atlanta Olympic swimming venue had a roof, but was an open-air facility.
Nonetheless, the National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory for the San Antonio for this week, encouraging people to avoid strenuous activity during the middle of the day, and it looks like those warm temperatures will be sticking around at least through the beginning of junior nationals. Prelims will start at 9am, and final will start at 6pm, for both meets, but that is still likely to put the end of preliminaries, as well as time trials, in the middle of the worst heat each day.
Common sense says anyone at the meet should at the very least, take simple precautions — stay in the shade when possible, drink plenty of fluids, and use sunscreen.
The Speedo Junior National Championships will take place June 30th-August 3rd. The Phillips 66 National Championships will run August 6th-10th, and will feature many of the top swimmers not competing at the FINA World Championships. The senior meet will serve as the selection meet for the FINA Junior World Championship meet, as well as be an opportunity for many swimmers to earn their spot on the 2015-2016 USA National Team. While we don’t know official entries yet, several former Olympians, including Michael Phelps, Natalie Coughlin, Cullen Jones, and Nick Thoman are expected to be among the participants.
I wonder how the meet managers plan to monitor the water temp of the pool and make adjustments. Right now where I am in the Northeast the outdoor pool temp has been between 80-85 and our days and nights nowhere near as warm as in San Antonio where it is 78 at 8 am with 85% humidity. There is a special weather alert now: Heat index values of 105-108 between now and Sunday.
usa swimming addresses indoor air/temp limits
103.7 WATER AND AIR TEMPERATURE
.1 /LSC/ Water temperature between 25 to 28 degrees Celsius (77 to 82.4 degrees
Fahrenheit) shall be maintained for competition.
.2 Air temperature within 8 feet above deck level in indoor facilities… Read more »
As much as I’m looking forward to attending Juniors (as a parent, not a swimmer) I’m not looking forward to spending time in the stands at 100+ degrees, shaded or not.
NISD was a great place for Masters Nationals in late April, but even then it got hot. It’s gonna be brutal for everyone except swimmers from Arizona, the Inland Empire and Vegas 🙂
Its been 90-104 degrees most of the summer in MT. 100 won’t be too bad.
I think every national meet should be indoors.
Or outdoors in California (e.g. Irvine or Stanford). Because of the Pacific, the temps are usually mild, even in August.
Yikes – this isn’t good. Northern swimmers will be at a distinct disadvantage but everyone will suffer.
Gee, who could have expected really high temperatures at the end of July/early August outdoors in Texas?
No doubt. It is a nice facility, but I don’t think it would be hard to predict what effect this could have on the swimmers -not sure this location was the wisest choice. Factor in some humidity 40-60% range typical for SA and the heat index goes a lot higher.
We have the same extreme heat in some parts of France for one month now.
Otherwise, there’s no global warming….
No comment.
Back to that meet, why they wouldn’t make the prelims at 7 AM and the finals at 8 PM?
It would make sense.
Swimming at sunset, it would be cool.
If that timeline were used, finals would not end before 10. The swimmers would also have to get up around 5 each morning for warmup. It wouldn’t make any sense to cut athletes recovery short like that.