The Aquatic Nuggets of January 8 and January 16, focussed on FINA points and the establishment of a Team TTO swimming shortlist for elite games. There is now one less meet to consider as after days of internet murmurs on the status of the World Championships, FINA has finally confirmed the postponement of the 19th edition in Japan.
World Champs Postponed
In a press release of February 1, FINA stated: “The 19th FINA World Championships in Fukuoka were initially scheduled for May 13-29, 2022. However, following close consultation with key stakeholders of the Fukuoka 2022 Organising Committee, all parties have agreed to reschedule the competition to July 14-30, 2023 to ensure a safe and successful event for everyone involved. Subsequently, the 20th FINA World Championships in Doha, Qatar, originally scheduled for November 2023, will be held in January 2024."
Commonwealth Standards
Administrative decisions on the COVID-19 pandemic continue to do a number on the planning and the psyche of athletes. With the postponement of Worlds, all eyes are on the Commonwealth Games.
Swimming is scheduled from July 29 to August 3 in Birmingham England, and this World Champs lemon provides an opportunity for ASATT and TTOC to become more laser focussed on the Commonwealth.
As highlighted in the Aquatic Nugget of January 16, it was proposed that the Commonwealth Qualifying Standard (CWQS) is the average of the eighth (818 pts) and 16th place (700) is 759 FINA points (based on FINA points 2021).
Any athlete that achieves 700 points, should be considered as a potential semifinalist, and should be shortlisted for the Games. This Commonwealth Consideration Standard (CWCS) would be based on the current FINA points table for 2022, and these athletes can be considered subject to quota restrictions. The suggested start of the qualification period was March 1, 2020.
Aquatic Nuggets proposed Commonwealth qualifying times 2022
Event Women CWQS Women CWCS Men CWST Men CWCS
50 Free 00:25.94 00:26.65 00:22.92 00:23.55
100 Free 00:56.68 00:58.23 00:51.42 00:52.83
200 Free 02:03.85 02:07.24 01:51.82 01:54.87
400 Free 04:19.22 04:26.31 04:01.25 04:07.85
800 Free 08:51.46 09:05.99 - -
1500 Free - - 15:54.87 16:20.98
50 Back 00:29.57 00:30.38 00:26.31 00:26.80
100 Back 01:03.11 01:04.70 00:56.84 00:58.39
200 Back 02:15.22 02:18.92 02:02.69 02:06.05
50 Breast 00:32.23 00:32.99 00:28.44 00:29.22
100 Breast 01:10.30 01:12.22 01:02.35 01:04.06
200 Breast 02:32.50 02:36.49 02:18.26 02:22.04
50 Fly 00:26.78 00:27.51 00:24.41 00:25.08
100 Fly 01:00.82 01:02.48 00:54.26 00:55.74
200 Fly 02:13.53 02:17.18 02:01.39 02:04.82
200 IM 02:18.26 02:22.04 02:04.97 02:08.39
400 IM 04:52.00 04:59.98 04:27.31 04:34.62
NB: These times are not the official times for Commonwealth Games, but a suggested guide based on the suggestions herein.
Commonwealth games shortlist
The following athletes have achieved the suggested Commonwealth Times based on the FINA Points Table of 2021 on a minimum FINA point of 759 (CWQS):
Dylan Carter - 50 (806) and 100 free (895), 50 (832) and; 100 back (846), 50 (792) and 100 fly (844)
Cherelle Thompson - 50 free (778)
Kael Yorke - 100 fly (766)
Zarek Wilson - 100 free (761)
The following athletes should be included in the shortlist as they have met the minimum benchmark of 700 points (CWCS):
Graham Chatoor (757) – 400 free
Josiah Morales (724) – 50 free
Nikoli Blackman (720) – 100 free
Jeron Thompson (713) – 100 free
Gabriel Bynoe (704) – 100 free
Christian Awah (720) – 50 fly SC
Confirmation of the Qualification Criteria
There is an urgent need for the selection policy for Commonwealth to be confirmed.
- Sixty percent (60%) of the athletes listed above are foreign based athletes. They would need to organise their programmes so they can not only avail themselves for selection, but seek out long course swim meet opportunities to improve their times.
- Relay opportunities may exist as the current four fastest male 100m freestylers have a combined time that is faster than our only Commonwealth relay team which place ninth in 2010.
- Seeking out a breaststroker can aid in our first 4x100m medley male team.
- Athletes can better target events to attempt especially those events where there may be multiple potential qualifiers.
- Should relays be possible, ASATT can now target events and training for our relay teams to get valuable relay practice.
Gabriela Donahue and Aqeel Joseph are among our athletes on the US college circuit who are just outside the suggested consideration standard. Other foreign based athletes may not have metres-based times to be considered and need to organise metres meets to be up for consideration.
Making Lemonade from Lemons
Despite the disappointment of the World postponement, a pragmatic approach to Commonwealth and its selection policy, can provide much-needed motivation to a COVID wary aquatic fraternity. Embracing our valuable foreign reserves of college athletes by finalising qualification criteria, can provide much needed direction for them to train for these quadrennial Games.
Following Dylan Carter’s historic Commonwealth medal in 2018, and his recent historic silver medal at World Short Course in 2021, the prospect of TTO swimming shining in Birmingham is high and will be enhanced by a motivated base of senior athletes who can use Commonwealth as a launching pad for Paris 2024.
