World Aquatics Releases Qualifying Times For 2026 Short Course World Championships In Beijing

While the long course season is just starting to ramp up, the qualification times for the 2026 Short Course World Championships have been published.

The meet, scheduled for December 1-6, will take place at the iconic ‘Water Cube’ that played host to the 2008 Olympic Games where Michael Phelps won his legendary eight gold medals.

The qualifying period for the competition began on July 27, 2025 (the opening day of the 2025 Long Course World Championships) and will run through November 15, 2026.

The qualifying times are in short course meters, but swimmers can also gain entry into the meet by attaining the Long Course World Championship standards for the 2025 long course edition.

The standards were created using the faster of either the ‘A’ qualifying time from the 2024 SC Worlds in Budapest or the 16th-place time from that event, which took place last December. This has been the consistent method for the qualifying times for the past several editions of the competition.

The breakdown resulted in the cuts being roughly half of each, as follows:

• Women: Six of the 2024 “A” time standards were the 2024 “A” time standard, and 12 of the 2024 “A” time standards were the 16th place time from the 2024 Worlds.
• Men: Four of the 2024 “A” time standards were the 2024 “A” time standard, and 14 of the 2024 “A” time standards were the 16th place time from the 2024 Worlds.

All ‘B’ time standards were derived by multiplying the ‘A’ time standard by 3.5%.

How swimmers are selected to compete at the championships, however, depends on their respective national governing body. World Aquatics has not yet publicized the qualifying process, but they’ve historically followed the procedures on page 13 of this document.

Now that we have the numbers, you might be wondering: how much faster have the qualification times gotten?

Women’s ‘A’ Cuts

Faster:

• 50 Freestyle: 24.44 → 24.33
• 100 Freestyle: 53.78 → 53.02
• 400 Freestyle: 4:06.95 → 4:06.27
• 800 Freestyle: 8:29.17 → 8:27.23
• 1500 Freestyle: 16:15.27 → 16:03.59
• 100 Backstroke: 58.08 → 57.52
• 50 Breaststroke: 30.45 → 30.21
• 100 Breaststroke: 1:05.28 → 1:04.97
• 200 Breaststroke: 2:23.38 → 2:21.91
• 50 Butterfly: 25.82 → 25.72
• 200 IM: 2:10.16 → 2:09.37
• 400 IM: 4:37.54 → 4:37.46

Same:

• 200 Freestyle: 1:55.60
• 50 Backstroke: 26.54
• 200 Backstroke: 2:05.54
• 100 Butterfly: 57.40
• 100 IM: 59.65

Men’s ‘A’ Cuts

Faster:

• 50 Freestyle: 21.40 → 21.19
• 100 Freestyle: 47.23 → 46.89
• 200 Freestyle: 1:44.08 → 1:43.48
• 400 Freestyle: 3:42.50 → 3:42.18
• 800 Freestyle: 7:45.02 → 7:42.39
• 50 Backstroke: 23.38 → 23.37
• 100 Backstroke: 51.30 → 50.81
• 200 Backstroke: 1:52.66 → 1:52.11
• 50 Breaststroke: 26.57 → 26.25
• 100 Breaststroke: 57.63 → 57.38
• 50 Butterfly: 22.53 → 22.43
• 100 Butterfly: 50.57 → 50.15
• 200 Butterfly: 1:53.61 → 1:53.19
• 400 IM: 4:09.19 → 4:08.87

Same: 

• 1500 Freestyle: 14:49.29
• 200 Breaststroke: 2:06.23
• 100 IM: 52.98
• 200 IM: 1:55.25

Click here to view the same comparison for the 2025 long course qualification times, which SwimSwam conducted prior to the Singapore World Championships.