The short-course World Swimming Championships has been moved a year ahead to December 2021, FINA, the international federation, announced this morning in Lausanne, its base in Switzerland.
The decision to postpone the December 2020 event to the same place at a different time, namely December 13-18, 2021, will make the 2020 season one void of any major global event in swimming.
In further news, FINA announced that it will not hold its General Congress is traditional fashion during the showcase Long-Course World Swimming Championships, rescheduled to May, 2022, in Fukuoka, Japan. Instead of delaying its Congress in keeping with the delays swimmers and other athletes must endure due to the coronavirus pandemic, FINA will host a Congress in isolation from its membership on June 5, 2021 in Doha, Qatar.
That will mark the moment the FINA president since 2009, Julio Maglione, Uruguayan and now in his mid-eighties, will step down from office after three terms. A new president and top-table Bureau will be elected for the period 2021-25, the new terms now scheduled to begin immediately after the conclusion of the Tokyo Olympic Games, to be staged from July 23-August 8, 2021.
Second World Swimming Championships To Be Rescheduled This Year
FINA noted:
“Given the uncertainty related with the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide, the safeguard of the athletes’ health and safety, and in accordance with the request of the UAE authorities, FINA has decided to re-schedule the upcoming edition of the FINA World Swimming Championships (25m), initially programmed to take place in December 2020 in Abu Dhabi.
“The new dates of this competition are December 13-18, 2021, with the FINA World Aquatics Convention taking place also in Abu Dhabi, from December 10-12, 2021.”