Swimming Canada has posted their policy for entry into the FINA World Cup Series. Many countries have had to develop such policies, as now FINA requires that national federations sign off on all World Cup entries, but Canada’s is especially restrictive.
Specifically, if Swimming Canada sends a “selected” Senior Team to a certain leg, then no Canadians from outside of that team can swim. Further, in non-selected meets, if swimmers from outside of the Canadian National Team want to enter a World Cup, they must either be on the Senior National Team, or be ‘carded’ or rank in the top 50 in the world in a long course Olympic event (even though the World Cup meets are all swum in short course meters).
As compared to the American rules, these are very strict in Canada. As USA Swimming Assistant Executive Director Mike Unger explained:
“FINA now requires that USA Swimming sign off on all entries for the World Cups. And when athletes attend these World Cup meets, they almost always are representing the USA. Because representing the USA is something that is taken very seriously, we have some requirements that athletes must adhere to. If they are not on the National Team, they must have their own medical insurance, and they also must have a coach accompany them.”
“While we have looked at setting a minimum criteria of 50th in the world…or 100th in the world, we have not done that yet.”
The first two legs of the FINA Swimming World Cup have drastically improved in quality, but in looking back at past years, there are swimmers who could have earned sizable paydays without being eligible to compete under Swimming Canada’s policies, even if they’d been willing and able to pay their own way to the meet. If the level of competition reverts to history through the Middle East leg of the event, it could become a bigger issue for Canadian swimmers.
The full Swimming Canada policy, along with their explanation of its purpose, is below:
Purpose:
This policy is designed to provide clubs, coaches and athletes an understanding as to how Swimming
Canada manages access to the FINA World Cup circuit. This policy is linked to the Swimming Canada High
Performance plan and is intended to facilitate opportunity for targeted athletes to access enhanced
competitive experiences in both post major championship prepared performance conditions and under
training load and in non-taper, non-shaved conditions.Policy:
Swimming Canada is the sole conduit through which a Canadian may access FINA Swimming World Cups.
At the discretion of the Swimming Canada High Performance Director, Swimming Canada may elect to
enter swimmers who may be in a Senior or Junior selected team, or a Centre team situation.
Where Swimming Canada enters a selected or appointed Senior Team to a specific leg of the World Cup,
access to that competition(s) is closed to non-selected Canadian swimmers.Where an individual Canadian swimmer wishes to enter a FINA Swimming World Cup, and where
Swimming Canada has not entered a selected Senior team, then that swimmer must be a carded swimmer
or have a current absolute World Long Course Ranking top 50 in an Olympic event. Such Swimmers must
be eligible to represent Canada and must agree to abide by the conditions of entry applied to Swimming
Canada selected teams. Any such independent entry shall be at the sole expense of the Swimmer and
Coach, including travel, accommodation and entries.The High Performance Director must approve all FINA Swimming World Cup entries in advance.
All entries to any FINA Swimming World Cup must be coordinated through the assigned Swimming
Canada staff member. It is the responsibility of the Coach to ensure entry deadlines are adhered to and
entry protocols are observed. Entry fees will be billed back to the Swimmer or Coach.