LEN, the European governing body for aquatic sports, announced it will reschedule dates on its international calendar following the news that there will be a World Championships in 2022, but it will only affect water polo.
The LEN Water Polo Champions League, which was scheduled to have its ‘Final 8’ round take place June 29-July 1 in Belgrade, Serbia, will now be shifted due to the World Championship announcement made by FINA Monday morning.
FINA announced that there will be a World Championship meet in 2022, scheduled for Budapest in July.
“In wake of today’s announcement that the FINA World Championships take place in 2022 from 18 June till 3 July in Budapest, LEN shall announce a new schedule for the Water Polo Champions League soon,” LEN said in a statement.
The announcement on the LEN Twitter account led some to believe the 2022 European Aquatics Championships, scheduled for August 11-21, were being rescheduled, but that’s not the case.
‼️𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐃𝐔𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐄𝐒𝐒‼️
1. In wake of today’s announcement that the @fina1908 World Championships take place in 2022 from 🔹𝟏𝟖 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝟑 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐁𝐮𝐝𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐬𝐭🔹, LEN shall announce a new schedule for the @LENchampions soon. pic.twitter.com/sEgph1r7jd
— LEN EuropeanAquatics (@LENaquatics) February 7, 2022
LEN also moved dates of its Women’s Euro League as a result of the Worlds announcement, which you can find here.
The 2022 World Championships were originally scheduled to take place this May in Fukuoka, Japan, but due to local COVID-19 restrictions, the competition was postponed until 2023.
As a result, the 2023 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, were moved from November 2023 until January 2024, and now with the Budapest addition, there will be three World Championship meets in a 19-month span prior to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
The 2022 international swimming calendar is now incredibly crowded, highlighted by the fact that the World Championships, Commonwealth Games and European Championships will all kick off within six weeks of each other.
