After the conclusion of the first meeting on Thursday of its COVID-19 taskforce, FINA, the governing body for 6 aquatic sports, has announced a run of cancellations and postponements of FINA-hosted events.
While the organization has not made any decisions yet about the upcoming Olympic Test Events in April, including the swimming, including the pool swimming event scheduled for April 14th-15th, the list of impacted events includes a number of Olympic qualifying events.
The final Olympic qualifying event, which was already postponed to mid-May, will hold that status for now, with a review date set for April 20th. That event was originally scheduled to be held in China, and then moved to Italy: the two countries globally with the most coronavirus cases.
The men’s Olympic qualifying tournament in water polo has been postponed to run from May 31st-June 7th.
So far, open water swimming and pool swimming are the only of FINA’s 6 disciplines that aren’t being impacted. FINA held its Champions Series meet, which drew many of the world’s top swimmers, in China just as the world was learning about the outbreak, though there ultimately have been no reports of participants coming down with coronavirus. Aside from the Olympic Test event, there are no other FINA-run pool swimming events scheduled between now and the Olympic Games.
The next stop of the FINA Open Water World Series comes in Victoria, Seychelles in May. Including officials, the number of participants in these events are usually only a few dozen, which gives them a higher probability of happening – although increasing travel restrictions could make it difficult for athletes to attend.
More Information from FINA:
Olympic Games Qualifying Events
March 8-15 – Trieste (ITA) – OG2020 Women ‘s WP Qualification Tournament
The competition has been already postponed to May 17-24
Taskforce will review the situation on April 20
March 22-29 – Rotterdam (NED) – OG2020 Men ‘s WP Qualification Tournament
The competition is postponed to May 31-June 7
Taskforce will review the situation on April 30
April 21-26 – Tokyo (JPN) – Diving World Cup
IOC and Tokyo2020 will make a decision in collaboration with the Taskforce as necessary
April 30-May 3 – Tokyo (JPN) – Artistic Swimming OG Qualifying Event
IOC and Tokyo2020 will make a decision in collaboration with the Taskforce as necessary
Olympic Test Events in April
Swimming
Water Polo
IOC and Tokyo2020 will make a decision in collaboration with the Taskforce as necessary
Diving World Series
March 20-22 – Kazan (RUS)
The competition is postponed to September/October 2020
March 27-29 – London (GBR)
At this stage, OC still wants to hold the competition. The FINA Taskforce will wait for further information from the British authorities, and will review the status of this event on March 16, 2020.
Water Polo
Water Polo World League Men and Women
The competition is postponed to September/October 2020
Artistic Swimming World Series
March 27-29 – Hurghada (EGY)
This competition is postponed to a further date not yet determined
April 3-5 – Alexandroupolis (GRE)
This competition is cancelled
April 10-12 – Budapest (HUN)
This competition is postponed to a further date not yet determined
April 17-19 – Kazan (RUS)
This competition is postponed to a further date not yet determined
April 23-25 – Suzhou (CHN)
This competition is cancelled
Schools, Coaches Clinics, Development programme
All schools and clinics to be held until the end of March 2020 are postponed. FINA schools and clinics to be held in April and May will be reviewed by the Taskforce, which meets regularly.
At present, the Olympic Qualifying System for Tokyo 2020 remains unchanged. Should any changes become necessary, they will be determined in collaboration with the respective FINA Technical Committees and agreed with the IOC. Should changes be required, these will be communicated at the earliest available opportunity.
According to discussions with the World Health Organisation, the risks of swimming in chlorinated water is considered to be of low risk for COVID-19 viral transmission. Please exercise good health hygiene (i.e. hand washing and avoid large gatherings).
The FINA COVID-19 Taskforce will meet again on March 16 to further reassess the situation concerning the impact of the virus on the FINA calendar of events.
FINA would like to reiterate its thanks to all those supporting aquatics athletes around the world. FINA would also like to express its thoughts and sympathies for all those affected by the pandemic.
As a coach, Does anyone else feel uncomfortable running practices with this spreading around?