FINA Unveils 2014 Youth Olympic Games Qualifying Procedure

FINA has announced the qualifying procedures for the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China.

This, the second edition of the Youth Olympics, will hope to mirror the success seen in the first edition, which was the coming out party of swimmers like Chad le Clos, Andrii Govorov, Velimir Stjepanovic, Tang Yi, Daryna Zevina, and Tera van Bielen.

The selection criteria for the 2014 will be as follows (though remember that any given country can choose their swimmers however they like, within these guidelines).

A total of 400 swimmers will be selected: 200 men and 200 women. 280 of those spots (140 per) will go to “qualification” athletes, 8 (4 per) will go to the host country China, and 112 (56 per) will go to “Universality” Places.

This is where the ‘points,’ largely ignored, from the World Championships become important. The top 16 teams by total FINA points at the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona will get up to 4 boys and 4 girls into the meet.

Teams outside of this top 16 will get up to four athletes maximum, 2 boys and 2 girls, meaning that they won’t be able to enter single-gender relays (but will be able to enter coed relays).

The top 16-finishing teams in the heats of the World Championships get to swim the 400 medley and free relays at the Youth Olympics.

For the mixed relays, there’s no restrictions, and every team with 2 boys and 2 girls can participate if they so choose.

The swimming portion of the Youth Olympics runs from August 17-22, 2014.

Ages

Swimmers born between January 1st, 1996 and December 31st, 1999 are eligible for the meet. That means athletes will range from 13 to 18 years old.

Qualification Standards

Boys’ Standards Girls’ Standards
A – 2 Entries B – 1 Entry A – 2 Entries B – 1 Entry
23.65 24.48 50 free 26.68 27.61
51.46 53.26 100 free 57.38 59.39
1:53.57 1:57.54 200 free 2:04.12 2:08.46
4:01.68 4:10.14 400 free 4:20.23 4:29.34
8:22.84 8:40.44 800 free 9:02.71 9:21.70
27.19 28.14 50 back 30.36 31.42
57.96 59.99 100 back 1:04.66 1:06.92
2:07.48 2:11.94 200 back 2:19.77 2:24.66
29.81 30.85 50 breast 33.18 34.34
1:04.79 1:07.06 100 breast 1:11.99 1:14.51
2:22.24 2:27.22 200 breast 2:35.17 2:40.60
25.47 26.32 50 fly 28.04 29.02
55.43 57.37 100 fly 1:02.62 1:04.81
2:04.10 2:08.44 200 fly 2:24.75 2:29.82
2:06.57 2:11.00 200 IM 2:21.48 2:26.43

Universality

To receive a Universality spot, countries must have participated at the 2013 World Championships, World Junior Championships, or any other FINA approved competition.

These countries do not have any swimmers who meet the qualification standards, and they can enter 1 boy and 1 girl, with up to 2 events each. Athletes from this pool will be selected on the basis of the FINA Points Table.

If all 112 Universality are not filled, they go back to those swimmers with B standards.

Qualification Period

Entry forms shall be submitted to FINA by June 15th 2014, with the entries approved no later than June 25th for the teams with qualification standards.

Times swum between April 1st, 2013 and June 8th, 2014 can be considered.

Event Lineup

The event lineup will be the same as it was in 2010, with one small exception. As listed above, it will include all World Championship events aside from the 400 IM and the 1500 free, though a new addition will be 800 frees for both genders.

There will also be no 800 free relay, but each gender has a 400 free relay, a 400 medley relay, and there will also be a coed 400 free relay and 400 medley relay.

Teams Eligible for Relays

Men’s 400 FR Men’s 400 MR Women’s 400 FR Men’s 400 MR
USA USA USA USA
Russia Australia Australia Australia
Australia Russia Canada China
France France Sweden Great Britain
Italy Japan Russia Japan
Brazil Italy Netherlands Canada
Germany Hungary Germany Russia
Japan Germany Japan Germany
Belgium Great Britain China Sweden
China China Italy Spain
South Africa South Africa Brazil South Africa
Turkey Brazil Spain Brazil
Czech Republic Lithuania Norway Mexico
Canada New Zealand Singapore Finland
South Korea Canada South Korea Singapore
Egypt Israel ==Vacant== South Korea

Teams Eligible to Send 8 Swimmers (4 Boys, 4 Girls)

This is actually a cool feature of this meet, as they reward teams that sent bigger squads to Worlds. Among the power countries that will be limited to only four entries (2 boys, 2 girls) at the 2014 Youth Olympics include Poland, Denmark, New Zealand, Ukraine, Lithuania, and Israel.

Country Points at Worlds
1. USA 978
2. Australia 562
3. Japan 441
4. China 427
5. Russia 330
6. France 322
7. Great Britain 284
8. Hungary 263
9. Spain 228
10. Germany 222
11. Brazil 217
12. Canada 213
13. Italy 210
14. Netherlands 159
15. Sweden 147
16. South Africa 135

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Pasutorn singhusaha.
7 years ago

Please send me youth olympic 2018 swimming qualifly time please!

gokhul
7 years ago

how many swimmers can srilanka send

gokhul
7 years ago

can i join 2018 youth olympic fm srilanka my timing 50m freestyle is 29.81s

5ara
10 years ago

How many Jordan can send?

Grant Hoole
10 years ago

If a swimmer from South Africa has one(1) “A” qualifying time and five(5) “B” qualifying times, could he participate at the Youth Olympics?

Jay
10 years ago

How many swimmers can the Philippines send?

WHOKNOWS
10 years ago

In 2010, USA Swimming sent 8 swimmers (4 boys and 4 girls) : Erich Peske, Thomas Stephens, Steve Schmuhl, Austin Ringquist, Kiera Janzen (Silver 400 free – 4:14.28), Jordan Mattern, Allison Roberts, Kaitlyn Jones (Gold 200 i.m. – 2:14.53; Silver 200 back – 2:12.20_). Location: Singapore

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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