During the coaches’meeting at the 2014 Winter National Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina, officials verified that the newly-approved Omega backstroke start ledges would be in place at the meet.
Specifically referring to procedure, officials will remove the ledges after the start of each race, but it will be the athlete’s responsibility to put the ledge back in the water and adjust it in order to “minimize the interaction between officials and athletes.”
Given that the wedges are very new and haven’t been used officially most places before this weekend’s meets, the wedges will be out at the pool t for athletes to test them out.
The officials specified a very important interpretation, specifically that even when using the ledge, toes must be in contact with the wall, meaning that swimmers cannot simply curl their toes over the edge of the ledge.
The ledges are not yet allowed by NCAA rules, and it was clarified to coaches that officials would be observing ledge use and times would not count for NCAA qualification if an athlete used the ledge.
Will the new backstroke ledge be used at Junior Nationals?