Kind of dumb on one level, but it happens in a couple of other regional championship meets like PanPacs as well as a couple of the recent EC meets, and everyone knows the rulebook going in.

It's a compromise rule of sorts- the world-wide meets like WCs and Olympics say two individuals, and the meet management wants to run the event as close to an Olympic or WC sort of feel as possible, including two per country. The coaches and federations want to give up and coming swimmers a chance to get some experience at senior level international competitions and allowing extra swimmers for prelims is a cheap way of doing that. The smaller countries want to be able to say they got swimmers into finals sessions and don't want to be overrun by Germany, the UK, and France. And it's not a bad thing to set up a system where you've got to have a fast morning swim in order to make it back to finals- gets you ready for the next WCs or Olympics.

Um... WTF mate?

Is there a reason/rationale behind why they did this?

I know the 3 to 2 switch in the Oly swim program 20 years ago was (i believe) in response to Kornelia Ender (70s), Kristin Otto (80s) and all the other women-beast that E.Ger was producing... in a way... they wanted at least another country on the podium.

---

36 kona qualifiers 2006-'23 - 3 Kona Podiums - 4 OA IM AG wins - 5 IM AG wins - 18 70.3 AG wins
I ka nana no a 'ike -- by observing, one learns | Kulia i ka nu'u -- strive for excellence
Garmin Glycogen Use App | Garmin Fat Use App

Good points... i've just always viewed ECs as just a big duel meet. :)

---

36 kona qualifiers 2006-'23 - 3 Kona Podiums - 4 OA IM AG wins - 5 IM AG wins - 18 70.3 AG wins
I ka nana no a 'ike -- by observing, one learns | Kulia i ka nu'u -- strive for excellence
Garmin Glycogen Use App | Garmin Fat Use App

I often think it would be fun to have a championship (for Athletics for example) that goes the other way.... fastest in the world in each event regardless of nationality. I guess that's kind of what the IM world champs do compared to the ITU champs (putting on one side for a moment the difference in the levels of competitiveness of the different qualifiers)

In swimming NCAAs frequently ends up something like that. You don't have many Australians, and it's limited to college kids, but there are no restrictions on nationality, and if a team thinks they can get 6 different swimmers to score in an event, then they can enter 6 swimmers in that event. Also fun to see relays where the swimmers will go back and represent 3-4 different countries come recognized international meet time.

Maybe the rule should be that any country known for shortage of pools and swimming clubs who can produce the 4 fastest times in the 50 free heats should be kind enough to show the other ones how they did it...:))

That is certainly not the situation in France. France has a lot of really nice swimming pools. The problem is: how do you swim if you want to swim by yourself and are not part of a swim team...then, indeed, good luck!
I'm going home in 3 days. In Versailles. There are 3 really nice 50m pools and numerous 25m pools in the area. But if I want to swim, it will be impossible...no lanes, people swimming all over etc. the only chance is to swim with a club/team.

How about out of the semi after swimming 46.02 for a 100m free???
Bernard out again...unbelievable and Leveaux who swims a new WR in 45.12...really curious to know how much the suit impacts the times...

If it weren't for the suits, we would still be talking about Janet Evans as the world record holder in the 800.

Bob Sigerson

Probably since it's only 2.12 seconds faster than Evans' record.

Amen to that! The public pools in France are great, but way too crowded. Is there any chance to swim as a "guest" with a Masters' program? I'll be in Saint Germain en Laye and Clermont-Ferrand frequently next year, and really need a good swimming option. The other complaint I have is that none of the pools open to the public until ~9am. Even though they're open relatively late, our meetings tend to run longer than I'd like. On the plus side, I'm looking forwad to running in the Foret de Saint Germain.

There are numerous good pools in the area, and I still have a lot of contacts in that area. If you pm me, I'll refer you to the right people to talk to and get some swimming in. Running in the Foret de Saint-Germain-en-Laye is pretty neat...next week for me! :)