2026 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships
- Wednesday, March 18 – Saturday, March 21, 2026
- McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta, GA
- Defending Champions: Virginia (5x)
- Championship Central
- Preview Index
- Psych Sheet
- Live Stream
- Live Results
- Live Recaps
- Prelims: Day 1
So here we are.
Another year, another big meet with big changes, another day 1 florp.
We were promised that this new format, without B Finals and with only one heat of relays swum in the evening, would be a faster-paced affair. And yet, on night one, there will be three races aired from the 2026 NCAA Championship meet – and at least six nine races from prior years championship meets played in between instead of the empty pool.
B-Finals are too confusing for a casual viewer, but airing a chopped-and-screwed version of Katie Ledecky‘s 2017 NCAA title in the 1650 free is not?
I am all for a snappier schedule. Some sessions can truly drag on. But anybody who believed that swim coaches would give up their breaks without a fight was sorely miscalculated. The schedule was already adjusted – whereas the new plan had all award ceremonies at the end of the session, on night one, a memo was sent that award ceremonies would instead be held after every event, as they always have been. The reasoning is pretty obvious – to slow the session down. At least two stars, Claire Weinstein and Torri Huske, skipped award ceremonies to prepare for second races.
In fairness to the format, Day 1 was always going to be the weakest day. There’s a natural overlap between the 1650 freestyles and the 800 free relays, the mile is not the flashiest event in any format, and the abbreviated opening day schedule is not the most obvious application of the new principles. But that should have been accounted for. They should make day 1 different and then roll into the new format – like they’ve done for years.
75 minutes 90 minutes and 3 new races is not anybody’s idea of the best presentation of the sport.
But the tone for the meet has been set, and the sample size of ‘my inbox and text messages’ from swimming insiders (coaches, former athletes, etc.) is overwhelmingly not thrilled.
Now the pressure is on. The rest of the week needs to be a lot better. The races on Wednesday were plenty entertaining – even the mile with a huge Jillian Cox come-from-behind win. But the format did not elevate them.
The bright lights are on. It’s time for our sport to shine. It can only go up from here.
I was waiting for the 800 free relay but I bailed on the third round of throwbacks
— super professional caitlin (@confusenthuse) March 18, 2026
Ngl haven’t watched the D1 stream (not that I didn’t try to), but I felt like I was enjoying the D3 stream more tbh. I swear the nat’s stream should be what the D1 stream should be, very pristine.
At this pace, the administration who made these exciting changes may run out of video clips in order to make this telecast so exciting. I will start searching for my old VCR clips of my 54.0 second tapered 100 fly race from 30+ years ago.
Every person on the “committee” that set this format up should be committed.
To anyone who was there in person — athletes or spectators — how did the atmosphere compare to previous years? Curious whether the energy in the building reflected what we’re seeing and reading from the outside.
Wednesday night is almost all families. Fewer swimmers in the evening means fewer families in the stands. So…not great energy. Kind of a ghost town.
New CSCAA leadership now. This was an entirely self inflicted wound
This is so pathetic
It should be diving replays
I was also disappointed to see that after all the focus on a “better for TV” schedule, they haven’t improved on any of the production aspects like showing live splits on the screen.