As reported in late September, Knoxville, Tennessee will host the first stop of the 2019 TYR Pro Swim Series on January 9-12 at the Allan Jones Aquatic Center. Knoxville is a new addition to the traditional Pro Swim Series lineup, which last year opened with the usual January stop in Austin, Texas.
USA Swimming has now released the meet information and time standards for Knoxville, which can be seen below. Time standards for other 2019 Pro Swim Series meets have yet to be announced.
If the past is any indicator for predicting what the other stops on the series will look like, the 2018 time standards alternated every other meet – with Austin (January), Mesa (April), and Santa Clara (June) having faster standards than Atlanta (March), Indianapolis (May), and Columbus (July).
Most notable about 2019, at least for the Knoxville stop on the series, is that the time standards are faster across the board (women and men) than 2018 – even compared to the aforementioned meets in Austin, Mesa, and Santa Clara.
For example, the women’s 400 IM has gone from a 5:01.89 in 2018 to a 4:57.29 in 2019. The men’s 400 IM has gone from a 4:38.39 in 2018 to a 4:33.09 in 2019.
Information, including time standards, from the 2018 TYR Pro Swim Series can be referenced here.
Last year, the entry cap was approximately 400-600 swimmers per meet. However, certain athletes were exempt from the entry cap and could enter any number of events until the entry deadline:
- Any athlete ranked in the top 50 in the world in one or more individual events between 9/1/2016 and 8/31/2017 based on the FINA world rankings as of September 1, 2017 (Events are LCM, Olympic-distance only).
- Any 2017-18 U.S. National Team member
- Any 2017-18 U.S. National Junior Team member
- Any U.S. athlete on the 18&U World 100 List
The Pro Swim Series at Knoxville is capped at approximately 450 swimmers and the 2018-2019 cap exempt list can be seen here.
See below for the full list of time standards – including bonus standards.
They are faster than the Winter National Cuts!
They’re the Summer Junior Nationals cuts.
These are turbo fast