World Aquatics has confirmed the dates for the 2026 World Short Course Swimming Championships in Beijing, China. The organization’s more ancillary title meet, swum in a 25 meter pool versus the Olympic 50 meter pool, will run from December 1-6 in the Chinese capital.
This will mark the third occasion for the World Short Course Championships to be hosted in China, all in different cities. Shanghai hosted in 2006 and Hangzhou hosted in 2018. Beijing is also scheduled to host the multi-sport World Aquatics Championships in 2029.
The National Aquatics Centre, known colloquially as the “Water Cube” because of its square shape and water-drop-patterned lit up exterior, held 17,000 spectators for the 2008 Olympic Games. After the Olympics, that number was reduced to 4,598, still making it one of the largest permanent aquatic centers in the world. While many major meets are moving into multi-sport arenas with temporary pools built, Short Course World Championships have remained in primarily aquatic facilities – albeit sometimes with expanded seating. The Duna Arena in Budapest hosted in 2024 and the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre hosted in 2022.
The December 1-6 dates will be the earliest this meet has run in years. While the early editions from 1992 through 2008 jumped around in timing (including an April timeline in four of those years), since 2010 the meet has settled into a consistent mid-December time slot. The next-earliest edition was 2014, where Doha hosted from December 3-7.
The 2026 meet is the 18th edition of the World Short Course Swimming Championships.
That’s a no from me, dawg.
The venue also hosted the curling competitions at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
I hope Léon Marchand will be part of it. Please Léon, please Bob. Incorporate this competition in your plans, schedule, preparation. I’d like to see him once in a good shape, with a dedicated training just for Worlds. We might be the witnesses of otherworldly times. Plus he’s a great fan of asían culture. And think about it : swimming in the water cube where Michael Phelps wrote his legend in 2008 would be a fantastic wink for him and Bob Bowman.
Hell yeah