Swimming Australia recently released the time standards to compete at the 2016 Australian Swimming Championships, but they may not be what you were expecting from the dolphins. This year, the 2016 Australian Swimming Championships will serve as the Olympic Team selection meet.
It was announced yesterday that the meet will be moved up one day and run from April 7th through to April 14th to assist Channel 7, Swimming Australia’s new media partner, in maximizing the exposure and audience for the Championships.
The qualifying times are considerably slower than some of the other standards we have seen. The United States has much tougher time standards for their Olympic Trials meets, but they are also a much larger country. France has the fastest selection standards that we have seen so far, but they are unlikely to field a full team in Rio next year. The United States and Australia, on the other hand, are likely to bring a full squad to the games.
**This is been updated since it’s original publication.
The French team released their selection standards for the 2016 Olympics and they are expected to be very fast. Commenter common wombat pointed out that Australia also posted a similar list, but their predicted times are slightly slower than the French teams. Those times can be found by clicking here.
Australia’s Olympic Trials standards are still incredibly slow for this caliber of a meet. The time standards for the 2015 US Jr National Championships were faster than the time standards for Australia’s Olympic Trials. Despite the slow time standards, the Australian have consistently found themselves near the top of the medal count at major international competitions and are likely to do the same again next year.
The time standards for the 2016 Australian Olympic Trials can be found below:
|
MEN |
EVENT |
WOMEN |
|
Freestyle |
||
|
23.90 |
50m |
27.00 |
|
52.00 |
100m |
57.90 |
|
1:55.00 |
200m |
2:06.00 |
|
4:06.00 |
400m |
4:26.00 |
|
8:37.00 |
800m |
9:02.00 |
|
16:00.00 |
1500m |
17:40.00 |
|
Backstroke |
||
|
28.00 |
50m |
31.00 |
|
59.90 |
100m |
1:06.00 |
|
2:09.80 |
200m |
2:21.50 |
|
Breaststroke |
||
|
30.80 |
50m |
34.50 |
|
1:07.10 |
100m |
1:15.00 |
|
2:27.00 |
200m |
2:41.50 |
|
Butterfly |
||
|
25.50 |
50m |
28.70 |
|
56.90 |
100m |
1:03.50 |
|
2:07.00 |
200m |
2:21.20 |
|
Individual Medley |
||
|
2:10.00 |
200m |
2:23.20 |
|
4:39.70 |
400m |
5:04.50 |
|
Club Relays |
||
|
3:35.00 |
4 x 100m Freestyle |
4:05.00 |
|
7:55.00 |
4 x 200m Freestyle |
8:40.00 |
|
4:00.00 |
4 x 100m Medley |
4:30.00 |
Can you swim an Olympic qualifying time after the Nationals if you were placed 1st or 2nd but failed to qualify at the Aust nationals and swim in the event in Rio?
The above listed times are the qualifying times to participate at the Australian Olympic trials.
It will be interesting to see how Swimming Australia is going to apply clause 8a,b,c of its selection criteria considering current members and potential Dolphin team members clearly fit some of these criteria. Thinking stillnox, abuse and domestic violence incidents.
A) has been convicted or found in a criminal, disciplinary or professional proceeding to have engaged in conduct which would have constituted a violation of anti-doping rules; or
B) have not at any time engaged in conduct (whether publicly known or not and whether before or after the date of my selection), which has brought, brings or would have the tendency to bring the Athlete or the Athlete’s sport into disrepute or censure, or which is or would have… Read more »
Interesting points !
With regards to the Stilnox episode; one suspects that SA may’ve “ruled a line under” that episode and those remaining were probably more “followers” than “prime movers” in that escapade; with the “prime movers”/seniors having now left the sport.
With regards to clause C; it’s obvious who you are referring to but going on that individual’s “labouring” performance in the relay heats; they’re probably at double figure odds to make the team.
Still, I will agree there’s potential discomfort for both Swimming Australia and Australian Olympic Committee with these guidelines.
Sorry, Tony, but you’ve got a little muddled ! The French standards that you have referred to are their standard for Olympic Selection, not those for competing at Trials/Nationals.
AUS has already released their Qualification Times for Olympic Selection.
http://www.swimming.org.au/visageimages/1_SAL/HPU_Selection_Criteria/Selection%20Criteria_Swimming.pdf
which are generally around the French “ball-park”. A handful are actually tougher; most on-par or 0.2/0.3 “softer”.
Here is the link which outlines the selection criteria and times:
http://www.swimming.org.au/visageimages/1_SAL/HPU_Selection_Criteria/2016%20Australian%20Olympic%20Team%20-%20Nomination%20Criteria%20SWIMMING.pdf
Why are there relay 50s of stroke and 800 for men and 1500 for women qualifying times if they are not olympic events?
swimfan2015 – Australia’s Olympic Trials double as their National Championship meets. Many countries not named the United States put more weight into those non-Olympic events and so view it as important to maintain a continuity of having a national champion in them every year. It’s not uncommon to see a swimmer who might be a 100 fly specialist, or a 100 back specialist, use those races as a tester, or after their primary event “just for fun.”