SwimSwam Pulse is a recurring feature tracking and analyzing the results of our periodic A3 Performance Polls. You can cast your vote in our newest poll on the SwimSwam homepage, about halfway down the page on the right side, or you can find the poll embedded at the bottom of this post.
Our most recent poll asked SwimSwam readers for their overall thoughts on the difficulty of the recently-announced 2020 U.S. Olympic Trial cuts.
RESULTS
Question: What was your impression of the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trial cuts?
- About what I expected – 56.5%
- Faster than I expected – 15.6%
- Slower than I expected – 27.9%
More than half of voters said the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trial cuts were about what they expected, with about 28% saying cuts were slower than what they had anticipated.
USA Swimming announced their cuts in late September. With USA Swimming’s clearly-stated desire to lower the number of total athletes competing at Trials, many expected time standards to take a massive nosedive into uncharted territory. But the changes were mostly marginal, with a few notable exceptions.
- You can see all the new Trials cuts (and our analysis of time changes by time and percentage) here
- You can check out a comparison to the last three editions of U.S. Olympic Trial time standards here
Much of the work in lowering Trials participation numbers may fall to the shortened qualifying period. Qualifying typically includes this past summer, but this time around, qualifying won’t open until next month.
Below, vote in our new A3 Performance Poll, which asks voters which world record from the Budapest World Cup was most impressive:
ABOUT A3 PERFORMANCE
The A3 Performance Poll is courtesy of A3 Performance, a SwimSwam partner
Does anyone know who decided the cuts by name? They are to easy for the meet quality. Before the 1960 trials there were no cuts. They began in 1959 at Nationals and about then NCAA’s.