USA Swimming says that they have not made a decision on whether or not to send a team to the 2023 World University Games in Chengdu, China.
This edition of the Games was originally scheduled for 2021, then postponed until 2022, and then last week was moved again to 2023 because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in China. USA Swimming was one of a number of national swimming federations that had already pulled out of the event, a list that included Swimming Australia, British Swimming, and Swimming Canada.
The ongoing uncertainty and constant changing of the international swimming calendar drove much of the withdrawal from this meet (and others) by national federations that are choosing to focus instead on meets that they have more control over.
With the meet now delayed until 2023, many national federations will have to again decide how to prioritize the event in a year that is expected to again include a FINA World Championship event.
In the absence of a USA Swimming-sponsored team, FISU-America, the direct governing body that sends teams to the World University Games, was planning on creating a roster via a partnership with multiple Big Ten teams for 2022.
