Madeline Folsom Contributed to this report.
USA Swimming has set the date for its first-ever short course meters selection meet for the Short Course World Championships meet. The team will be chosen from October 28-31 at the FMC Natatorium in Westmont, Illinois.
New USA Swimming CEO Kevin Ring first shared this information on a special episode of the SwimSwam Podcast.
“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’.”
October 28-31 is after the start of the NCAA season, though to some degree that overlap was unavoidable because of the increasingly-crowded nature of the global swimming schedule. The team will be chosen just four weeks before the meet, which will be held in Beijing, China from December 1-6, 2026.
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.
In spite of choosing their team from long course meets, the Americans still dominated the meet, winning 18 gold medals (three times as many as the neutral athletes from Russia, next most) and 39 total medals (more than double Canada’s 15, the next most).
At least the schedule does not conflict with the 2026 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup (K. Douglass, R. Smith, A. Walsh, G. Walsh, et al).
50,100 fly and 100 im for walsh
50 free, 50/100 fly, 100 IM, 4 or 5 relays. That’s 16-17 races.
Assuming semis for 200 and under. Any event order yet?
I’m assuming no semis in a four day meet. But no, no event order yet.
Doesn’t SCM Worlds’s have semifinals for 50’s and 100’s (but not 200’s)?
They do, but that doesn’t mean the selection meet has to.
Unless they’re doing semis and finals in the same session, would be hard to squeeze that all in.
Super interested to see how this goes. How many college kids take this seriously? It could be a bloodbath if enough people show up. Usas has been prepping for a sc selection meet for all of eternity. So many more athletes are primed for this course and ready to show up to disrupt the pecking order than what you’d see in LC.
Agree but this is so many buzz words it made me dizzy
I always thought the perfect solution was if you had a dominant LCM swimmer who was also clearly a dominant SCM swimmer, they get a free pass – but only like 3 men and 3 women, max 1 spot per event can be sealed up that way.
And then use a selection meet for the rest.
Basically the system that many European nations use to select their teams. Give your superstars that easy path, let everyone else fight it out.
But, I like that they’re trying this. It being in a Pan Pacs year is a good time to test it out.
I think a lot of people in the US pride themselves on not having a discretionary picks and having to go through a trials every time. And do you trust executives to determine who is clearly dominant in sc when the pros don’t even compete in it every year?
No way. You earn it in the water in the moment. Can’t do it there? Then you don’t go. As it should be. This is the superior system, not the Euro way you’re citing.
Are there time standards?
Nope, just sign up and swim!
I’m in!!!
Very excited that USA swimming is finally hosting a proper selection meet for short course worlds. Long overdue!
Welcome to Chicago (area)!
Caption says Gretchen won $ 250,000, article says $ 290,000. Which is it ?
The only person who really cares is GW.
Scott Bonney is her alias.