USA Swimming has announced that the 2020 Pro Swim Series stop at Mission Viejo from April 16th-19th will be held with morning finals in an attempt to mirror the upcoming Olympic Games, which will do the same.
Nightly prelims for the meet will begin at 5 PM Pacific Time, with finals beginning each morning at 10 AM Pacific Time.
At the 2020 Olympic Games, just as they did when the Games were held in Beijing in 2008, preliminary races will be held during evening sessions while semi-final and finals races will be held the following morning. The session times in local Japan time will be 7PM and 10:30 AM, respectively.
USA Swimming used a similar strategy in 2008 in the series, then branded as the Grand Prix series, having morning finals for at least the Eric Namesnik Memorial Grand Prix in 2007 and the Missouri Grand Prix in 2008.
Mission Viejo is the 4th stop of the 5-stop 2019-2020 USA Swimming Series, which is currently in Des Moines, Iowa.
The morning finals sessions are being held largely to satisfy American broadcasters: 10:30 AM Japanese time is 8:30 PM U.S. Eastern Time. The 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials, which generally follow the Olympic schedule in terms of event order, will use the traditional morning prelims, evening finals order (again, largely to satisfy the same American broadcaster, NBC, which holds rights to both events).
Full 2020 Pro Swim Series Schedule:
| DATES | CITY | POOL |
| Nov. 6-9, 2019 | Greensboro, N.C. | Greensboro Aquatic Center |
| Jan. 16-19, 2020 | Knoxville, Tenn. | Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center |
| Mar. 4-7, 2020 | Des Moines, Iowa | MidAmerican Energy Aquatic Center at the Wellmark YMCA |
| April 16-19, 2020 | Mission Viejo, California | Marguerite Aquatic Center |
| May 6-9, 2020 | Indianapolis, Indiana | IU Natatorium |
The stop at the outdoor Marguerite Aquatic Center in Mission Viejo will be the first-ever tour stop at the legendary pool and will follow an $11 million renovation of the facility.
USA Swimming has already announced a number of big names expected at the event, including Ryan Lochte, Nathan Adrian, Allison Schmitt, David Heron, Katie McLaughlin, and Ella Eastin.
