We are officially in an Olympic year, with the 2020 Games kicking off in Tokyo, Japan just over 200 days from now. Elite swimmers everywhere are now entering crunch time in terms of qualification if they haven’t already made the grade.
Although the swimming world’s governing body, FINA, dictates the overall Olympic qualification process in terms of consideration times and the time frame window to make the cut, most individual nations also draft their own official selection criteria that stands as the ultimate say in whether or not a swimmer books his or her ticket to Tokyo.
For example, two-time World Champion Daiya Seto has qualified for his home nation-hosted Olympic Games by virtue of winning gold in the 200m IM and 400m IM in Gwangju, Korea this summer according to Japan’s selection policy.
Additionally, Henrik Christiansen of Norway has already officially clocked an Olympic-qualifying time in the 800m free en route to World Championships silver in the event. Per Norway’s policy, Christiansen has qualified for Tokyo.
The dominant swimming nations each typically host an Olympic Trials meet in the months leading up to an Olympic Games, with the competition oftentimes doubling as the national championships.
For many, such as Great Britain and the United States, the singular Trials meet represents the one and only opportunity to qualify for the Olympics. In fact, many swimmers have stated that the Trials are more intense and nerve-racking than the actual Games themselves. In other countries, there are multi-meet qualifying systems (Italy, for example, has already qualified a few athletes), but the Trials or National Championship meets are still usually the focus.
Below is a listing of the Olympic Trials/National Championships meets as we know them today, keeping in mind that some nations’ selection policies indicate that qualification times can indeed be obtained at other competitions either past or future.
- Australia 06/14 – 06/19: Australian Swimming Trials
- Belarus 05/22 – 05/24: Open Championships of Belarus
- Belgium 05/21 – 05/23: Open Belgian Swimming Championships
- Brazil 04/20 – 04/25: Brazilian Olympic Trials
- Canada 03/30 – 04/05: Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Trials
- China 03/28 – 04/05: National Swimming Championships
- Denmark 03/28 – 04/01: Danish Open
- France 04/14 – 04/19: Championnat de France Elite
- Germany 04/30 – 05/03: German Swimming Championships
- Great Britain 04/14 – 04/19: British Swimming Championships
- Greece 05/28 – 05/31: Greek Open Swimming Championships
- Hong Kong 04/11 – 04/12: 63rd Festival of Sport
- Hungary 03/24 – 03/28: Hungarian National Championships
- Ireland 04/01 – 04/05: Irish Open LC Championships
- Italy 03/17 – 03/21: National Spring Championships
- Japan 04/01 – 04/08: Japanese Swimming Championships
- Lithuania 03/19 – 03/21: Lithuanian Championships
- Netherlands 04/03 – 04/05 Swim Cup The Hague; 04/09 – 04/12 Swim Cup Eindhoven
- New Zealand 03/31 – 04/04: New Zealand Open Championships
- Poland 05/20 – 05/24: Polish Championships
- Russia 04/03 – 04/09: Russian National Swimming Championships
- Singapore 06/24 – 06/27: 16th Singapore National Swimming Championships
- South Africa 04/04 – 04/09: SA National Aquatic Championships
- Spain 04/04 – 04/08: Cto. de España “Open” de Primavera P50
- Sweden 06/26 – 06/30: Swedish Championships
- Switzerland 04/02 – 04/05; Swiss Championships
- The United States 06/21 – 06/28: United States Olympic Trials
- Ukraine 03/10 – 03/13: Open National Swimming Championships
Hungary’s selection criteria is as follows:
the main round of qualification ends with the Hungarian LCM Championship (03/28)
– if there are at least 2 athletes having an A level time, those 2 having the best time have their ticket to Tokio
– if there is only one athelete having the A level time (s)he have the ticket to Tokio
Not even a later WR can change this. I think the start of the qualification peiod is the begining of the 2019 LCM WC.
After 03/28 the race is still open for the remaining places.
The biggest battles are expected for the women’s 200 fly (Hosszú?, Kapás, Szilágyi, Jakabos) and for the men’s 400IM… Read more »
Thanks. And I believe finals on the Hungarian National (3/24-3/28)) will be in the Mornings, is that correct ?
Sweden’s main selection meets are Swim Open in Stockholm, Sweden, April 3-6 followed by the European Championships with general guidelines of at least an FINA A qualifying time. After you get by these criteria’s you have to be approved by the Swedish Olympic Committee. Back in 2012 & 2016 the NOC wanted athletes (regardless of sport) to have a reasonable chance for a Top 8 finish to be selected regardless of what qualifying criteria an athlete had achieved, not sure if it is the same for Tokyo or if they have made it a little easier.
The Swedish OC use the ”Top-8 criteria”
Thank you, I was told Top 6 so I changed it to Top 8
Still very tough.
NZL also have pretty high demands.
Israel – June 13th – June 15th.
So if Russia banned does it mean russian trials wont be valid?
The times from the meet would still count, and the Trials would still be the country’s selection meet even if the athletes compete under a neutral flag at the Games.
Very cool to have this list, than you Retta & SwimSwam. Much appreciated.
The Netherlands does not have an Olympic Trials meet. They have set qualifying standards (link here: https://nocnsf.nl/media/1640/sjabloon-normen-en-limieten-swimming-os-tokyo-2020-versie-1pdf.pdf) and a series of approved qualifying events. The two listed Swim Cups in Den Haag and Eindhoven in April are two of these events.
Do we know if anybody is going to have morning finals to reflect the format in Tokyo? The US won’t this time. But both the US and GB did this at their trials in 2008.
US Trials in ’08 had a standard format, only a few grand prix meets (Missouri and ?) had the flipped schedule.
As far as I am aware Great Britain aren’t either but I suppose it may be a smart move to make.
GBR said evening finals when London was announced as the host. Swimming fast times in the morning has been implemented across junior and senior meets for GB swimmers for over a year now. There are a few bigger name swimmers I have noticed have really struggled with it which is a slight concern.
French swimmers will have to make the cuts in the morning (heats) and finish in the top 3 in final (afternoon).
I’m sure this has been discussed before, but that’s really late for Australia compared to their 2016 schedule (April 7-14, with the olympics being held about two weeks later than this year), they must be trying out the American model
Here’s our insight on the subject – https://swimswam.com/aussies-sticking-to-plan-of-olympic-trials-closer-to-actual-event-for-2020/
Question: Are the U.S. trials not held late because of the NCAA finals? These are usually held march/april and the swimmers need time to prepare for the trials afterwards, hence the trials are held closer to the games. As such, it is out of necessity rather than strategy?
I think it’s both. AFAIK when it was earlier (March/April) college coaches hated it. But a later trial seems anecdotally to work better as far as repeat performances.
Australia moved their Trials to later and so far, it’s worked wonderfully. They’ve had a lot of other programs going to work on their performances at international meets…but the later Trials is a part of it.
And Adelaide is (basically) in the same time zone as Tokyo…so there will be minimal impact from leaving everything late…not sure if they will have morning finals though, it would make some sense.
The program says heats in morning finals at night