USA Swimming CEO Kevin Ring told SwimSwam today that USA Swimming will be hosting a Short Course World Championships selection meet in SCM during the fall of 2026.
Earlier today, SwimSwam Editor-in-Chief Braden Keith interviewed new USA Swimming CEO Kevin Ring for the SwimSwam podcast with the intention of asking the “hard questions”.
About 40 minutes in, Keith asked if short course times should be used to select teams for short course championships. Ring said “Yes. We are going to do a short course event in the fall of 2026.”
He went on to say, “We recognize the importance of what that is, and that is one of those ‘things are changing, we need to make sure we change with them’.”
Full details about the event will be released in January, but the creation of a short course selection meet signals a change from the way the team has been chosen in the past.
In 2024, the athletes were selected based on their long course meters swims that were achieved from July 2023 through August 2024, and athletes were required to be members of the current USA Swimming National Team.
This selection process has been subject to criticism in the past, and has left major athletes at home. In 2021, Coleman Stewart was the SCM World Record holder in the men’s 100 backstroke, but he was left off the roster in favor of Hunter Armstrong and Shaine Casas, who both had faster long course meter times during the qualifying period.
Beata Nelson was another swimmer left off short course rosters in favor of long course athletes. She was one of the best female backstrokers in SCM, and the American Record holder in the 100 IM, but she was left off both the 2021 and 2022 Short Course Worlds rosters for the United States, despite the fact that there was an open roster spot in the women’s 200 IM and no athlete listed to race the 100 IM.
Creating a new meet will open the door to more short-course-oriented athletes, which is the primary way swimming is trained and raced in the United States, giving them an opportunity to make a major international team. It will also ensure the fastest swimmers in each event are invited.
This meet will not only add a racing opportunity on U.S. soil for the top athletes, which we typically only see once a year at long course Nationals/Trials, but it is in line with the way other swimming federations schedule their season and make their SC World Team selections.
Athletes who make the team also earn the opportunity for prize money. In 2024, the top eight swimmers in each event received prizes, starting with $10,000 for event wins and going down to $2,000 for 8th place. Gretchen Walsh earned the most money in Budapest with $290,000 once all of her World Record bonuses were factored in as well.
The 2024 SC Worlds in Budapest was one of the fastest meets in recent memory with 30 World Records falling over the six days of the meet.
The 2026 edition will take place in Beijing, China from December 1-6, 2026 at the famous “Cube” that was the venue for the 2008 Summer Olympics, where Michael Phelps famously won eight gold medals.
Watch the full podcast here:
Colombia Bogotá
I am curious about the details. Long course competition will end for our top swimmers after Pan Pacs from August 12-15. World Cups start on October 1 in Azerbaijan and the third stop ends in Kazakhstan on October 17.Short course Worlds starts on December 1 in China. This doesn’t leave a lot of open time in the fall, especially with the NCAA season for college athletes.
Will athletes participating in the World Cups need to also participate in a selection meet? Is this domestic meet the only option for qualifying or can qualifying times also come from World Cups? Do we just take the top times from any qualifying meet, similar to Pan Pacs, or is this a trials-type selection… Read more »
Awesome news!!! We are evolving.
Bet you won’t make it in yards though.
Why would they? Can’t use yards times to qualify for worlds or as seed times.
Finally glad this one has been done. Now please get rid of the stupid one year before choosing teams. It is not a good practice just have a selection meet beforehand. Every other major country who will be at the meet will be doing that.
It’s great to see SCM becoming more mainstream. American swimmers actually excel in it because of intensive underwater training from yards.
I was hoping for a gradual transition. Make the qualifying meet short course yards
bruh
You are getting downvoted. I give you 10/10. Well done.
You are living under a rock bruh!
Or perhaps we who do not see the epic humor in Aswi’s post are?
Whether or not you acknowledge the positive aspect of selecting the team from a course which is overwhelmingly the lead short course venue (SCY) in the selecting country, it is a HUGE advance over selecting SCM team from LCM events.
Yes FINALLY! If this is how Kevin Ring introduces himself to the broader swimming community, this is a WIN!