I know what you’re thinking, its a little early and you’re right. Today FINA released their first lists of which swimmers had already achieved an “A” cut and which other swimmers had their “B” standard. If you scroll through the list and do not find your favorite swimmer’s name or Nathan Adrian’s on the list there is not much to worry about….yet.
The qualifying period began early last month and in America the last month has been that of a dead period with prominent college swimmers focusing on NCAA’s. For example at the Austin Grand Prix in January Bruno Fratus of Brazil and Jack Conger both posted times well under the “A” standard in their respective events. Neither of their times from Austin appear on the qualifying list as the qualifying period began on March 1st. For a more detailed explanation of the Olympic Qualifying procedure click on the link.
French and Canadian swimmers are currently racing at their respective nationals to qualify for World Championships taking place in Kazan this summer. Links to those championships can be found below.
Skimming over the lists you can see many countries did not waste time with a majority of their qualifying standards being completed at the beginning of the month in Marseille. France as a country already possess 10 “A” cut swims qualified for the games in Rio.The Iron Lady of Hungary, Katinka Hosszu, currently has posted 5 “A” standards all from Marseille. Expect for Hosszu to add cuts in the 100, 200 freestyle, 200 backstroke, and 100 butterfly before years end. The only Americans qualified so far are Natalie Coughlin (100 backstroke), Tom Shields (100 butterfly), and Camille Adams (200 butterfly).
Again the list should not and does not mean a ton for most of the worlds swimming powers. Now that the summer begins to creep upon us more and more country’s superstar swimmers will begin to churn out their yearly “A” standards. We’ll be with you the entire way here at Swimswam keeping you up to date with country’s nationals and major meets going on throughout the summer, so it’s only right that we say with full confidence to
LOL! The laughs keep coming on this April Fool’s Day! Posting a list of qualifiers after one month?! I didn’t think FINA had a sense of humor. Maybe they’re afraid their organization will be disbanded soon, so they have to try and make themselves seem important. Dare I ask how often they’ll update this list?
that calm down picture had me crackin up. lol
Is this for real?