Swimming Australia announced that the 2018 Australian Open Water Swimming Championships will remain at Brighton Beach in Adelaide, but participants should expect some notable changes at next year’s event.
In order to be better-aligned with international rules and regulations, as well as to create a more meaningful competition with straightforward selection, Swimming Australia has altered their bylaws effective the 2018 competition. There are 3 main points of change within the bylaws, which involve the areas of age ranges, the actual competition program, as well as date of birth consideration for eligibility. You can review the more descriptive changes to be implemented here, but below is a quick snapshot.
- Age Bandings: The new age groupings for the Australian Open Water Championships will include 14/15 yrs, 16/17 yrs, 18/19 yrs and Open.
- Program: The 2018 event will cover 3 days and will see the race offerings of Open 10k, 18/19 years 10k, 16/17 years 7.5k, 14/15 years 5k, Open 5k Time Trial, Open MC 5k, Mixed 14/15 Team Relay, Mixed Open Team Relay, and JX Clinic 12/14 years.
- Date of Birth Eligibility: A competitor’s age band in the age group events will now be determined by his/her age as at 31 December in the year of competition. For Open events, it will instead be the competitor’s age as of first day of competition. The minimum age for any 2018 Open Water event is 14 years (excluding the JX event).
