USA Swimming has released time standards for the 2nd and 3rd stops of the 2019 TYR Pro Swim Series in Des Moines and Richmond, respectively. Those standards will be the same as the standards for the inaugural stop, Knoxville, which were announced in early October.
- Meet Information for Des Moines, March 6th-9th, 2019
- Meet Information for Richmond, Virginia, April 10th-13th, 2019
That’s already another deviation in format from last year’s series, where the time standards alternated, by meet, between faster and slower standards. This year, the first 3 announced meets of the 5 in the series have the same announced standards.
From Maclin Simpson’s analysis in October:
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.
Time Standards for Knoxville, Des Moines, and Richmond Pro SwimSeries Stops
I don’t necessarily agree with the faster time standards for all of the meets, it’s restricting opportunities for age group swimmers to gain experience on the national stage.
Not sure this has ever really been about those age group swimmers, unfortunately..
Anyone else think these fast standard combined with smaller cities hosting will make for small meets?