The Japanese Swimming Federation has released high-level parameters surrounding qualification for the 2019 FINA Long Course World Championships, as well as a hint into the process to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Japanese Swimming National Head Coach and Chief Executive Norimasa Hirai said that the qualification times for next year’s World Championships will be based off of the time ranked 16th in the world as of the conclusion of 2018. Additionally, the selection competitions for the competition in Gwangju will include the Japan National Championship slated for April, as well as the Japan Open scheduled for May.
Previous World Championships qualification standards were based off of world-ranked times more in the 24th position, so the federation has elected to stiffen the selection standards even further in an effort to emphasize it’s not enough to just qualify for the Championships, but the federation expects finals appearances.
“We expect ALL swimmers to advance to the final and even earn multiple gold, and train toward 2020 with that mentality,” said Hirai of the expectations.
As for 2020, the only meet representing an Olympic Trial for Japan will be the 2020 Japan National Championships in April of that year. The competition will follow an 8-day format, with the same event order as the Olympic program. The selection criteria and time standards will be created after the 2019 FINA World Championships.