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
So far at this NCAAs, Claire Curzan has gotten a Top-2 finish every time she’s hopped in the pool. Helping Virginia to wins in the 200 medley and free relays, last night, Curzan swam her first individual event, the 100 fly, where she finished 2nd, just .06 behind fellow Olympian Torri Huske. However, Curzan was still upset with the absence of swimmers 9-16 not swimming in finals, saying the energy on the pool deck is much better when there are more swimmers competing.
You can contact the CSCAA (College Swimming Coaches Association) at [email protected]
They are the ones directly responsible for the decision to abandon B finals. I have written them and encourage all others to send a quick email to let them know of your disappointment in their decisions and leadership of our sport.
Fill up their inbox!
Luckily I think enough uproar has occurred that this is likely a one year experiment. There is no viewing market for swimming to capture, it’s just not that enticing of a product period. It’s the same reason track and field will never be a year in and year out media win. They are tough watches for average consumers and the solution is to have the meet live, provide what the true fans want and need, and then just package it up for broadcast however they see fit.
Casual fans will never seek out swimming. If your just going to show past years races during time when B finals could be swimming, then just condense it into what the casual fan… Read more »
i also think a big issue with this is that it’s so inaccessible/hard to watch, even for people who really enjoy watching swimming. maybe they’d have a bit of credibility in wanting the sport to be more popular if they made it a national broadcast instead of having us jump through so many hurdles to sign up for espn+ or whatever it’s called? but for now it’s just the opposite
The purpose of the new format is not to appeal to the current swim fan who has been watching the sport online for years. The purpose is to attract the people who do not typically watch swimming because the sessions are too long and the product is boring. The fan we need to attract does not understand the purpose of watching someone racing to finish 9th. The casual sports fan wants to see who wins a race. TV coverage will want a package that can be wrapped up in 60 to 90 minutes during prime time. Look at F1 and women’s NCAA volleyball, 90 minute windows. Women’s volleyball will go over 90 minutes when there is a 4th and/or 5th set, which… Read more »
Not reading allat
Happy for you
Or sorry that happened
F1 is a terrible example, it was niche for years, they leaned into that fact and catered the coverage to serious fans.
The problem with swimming coverage is that the majority of swim fans don’t watch. They need to be trying to make it can’t miss type coverage that caters to people that understand the sport at a high level.
The two biggest college sports are, by far, football (3+ hour games) and basketball ( 2+ hour games).
The length isn’t the problem.
The broadcast could definitely be spiced up, but nixing B-finals in favor of replays of long-graduated swimmers racing just ain’t it.
Totally agree.
They could first try the obvious changes. They need to make the stream accessible, high quality, and maybe even free. No one who doesn’t already like swimming is going to pay to watch it. They need announcers who actually call the race rather than tell a story about something else. I love Rowdy’s enthusiasm, but I watched a 100 yard race where he barely mentioned what was going on in front of him until the last turn. This is inexcusable. They need to set up the dynamics. Virginia is going for a historic 6th win. We have Sandpipers, former teammates, all competing on different teams. We have a historic number of women breaking 21 in the 50. We have two… Read more »
Last night’s session was 13 minutes shorter than night 2 last year, with about 60-65% less swimming (estimated).
Do you think they were successful in their attempt?
How long was diving?
And how much more ad time for the stream? That may be part of the real answer here.
Unfortunately the session length was not shortened by any meaningful amount of time, yet there was significantly less competition going on. People watch the NCAA swimming and diving championships in order to see the best of the best. If you shorten a session, swimmers who are competing in multiple events will be more tired. More tired swimmers = slower swimming = worse overall product. The alternative is swimmers choosing to compete in fewer events (which they wouldn’t do anyways). Fewer fast swimmers = slower swimming = worse overall product. You also cannot shorten those diving events or a mile without altering the event completely or disrespecting the competing athletes by running concurrent events.
What ESPN should do (and they never… Read more »
I think everyone understands the concept of shortening the session lengths.
But cutting the swimming and leaving the session lengths the same is an unmitigated disaster. I’d love a breakdown of how that happened.
Less final swims than in Texas for 10&Unders. And trust me 10&U don’t need no B final.
I love her so much and honestly last summer was the shot in the arm she needed!!!
Of all the meets in the world to get rid of B finals why do it at the fastest meet of the year? Dumb
There’s no way the format is like this next year, right? Right????
really excited to see Claire’s LCM free, back and fly this summer
and like Torri speak out on wanting to cheer on her B final teammates
Why is this downvoted…
I would love to see her get near her old times in fly, the 50 fly is honestly kind of open behind Gretchen and she used to have a really good 50
Free doesn’t seem to be in the cards based on her free LC in recent years but hey 46.0 and 20.8 are no joke