Sweden publishes new qualification criteria for 2022 Euro and LC Worlds
On Wednesday, the Swedish Swimming Federation released its updated qualifying procedures for the major international 2022 meetings. The Swedes had an extremely successful short track world championship last month in Abu Dhabi, and came home with 12 total medals, including 4 gold and broke the world record in the ladies’ 4 × 50 medley relay. The Scandinavian country will now try to build on that success in the long run, with the world championships in Fukuoka, Japan in May and at the European Championships in Rome, Italy in August.
Qualification criteria for the world championship in long distance 2022
Women | Event | Men |
25.04 | 50 free | 22.18 |
54.25 | 100 free | 48.77 |
1: 58.66 | 200 free | 1: 47.06 |
4: 10.57 | 400 free | 3: 48.15 |
8: 37.90 | 800 free | 7: 53,11 |
16: 29.57 | 1500 free | 15: 04.64 |
28.22 | 50 Back | 25.17 |
1: 00.59 | 100 back | 54.03 |
2: 11.08 | 200 back | 1: 58.07 |
31.22 | 50 Breasts | 27.33 |
1: 07.43 | 100 Breasts | 59.75 |
2: 25.91 | 200 Breasts | 2: 10.32 |
26.32 | 50 Fly | 23.63 |
58.33 | 100 mosquitoes | 51.96 |
2: 09.21 | 200 mosquitoes | 1: 56.71 |
2: 12.98 | 200 IM | 1: 59.76 |
4: 43.06 | 400 IM | 4: 17.48 |
To qualify for the world championships, swimmers must achieve at least one of the above time standards, which is equal to the FINA A-cut. New qualifying times must be achieved at a FINA-approved competition between March 1 and April 12, 2022, with the preliminary list announced on April 12 and the final list announced on May 1.
Sweden has also made a provision that swimmers who qualified for the finals at last summer’s Olympic Games must be nominated for the list, which means that they do not have to reach the qualifying standard during the qualifying period. These swimmers include Louise Hansson (100 flights), Sophie Hansson (100 breasts), Erik Persson (200 breasts) and Sarah Sjöström (50/100 free, 100 flights).
Sweden can also choose to add additional swimmers to the list after the qualifying window has closed, especially when considering high-level junior swimmers, even if countries can not register more than two swimmers in each competition.
The qualifying standards are slightly changed from Sweden’s standards for the 2019 World Cup in South Korea, but are noticeably slower than the time standards set to qualify for the Olympics in Tokyo 2020, which were faster than FINA A cuts in all disciplines.
EC Qualification Criteria 2022
Women | Event | Men |
25.22 | 50 free | 22.24 |
55.04 | 100 free | 49.02 |
2: 00.58 | 200 free | 1: 48.37 |
4: 15,20 | 400 free | 3: 50.06 |
8: 51.69 | 800 free | 7: 57.24 |
16: 49.86 | 1500 free | 15: 19.14 |
28.4 | 50 Back | 25.28 |
1: 01.11 | 100 back | 54.45 |
2: 14.11 | 200 back | 1: 59.23 |
31.46 | 50 Breasts | 27.71 |
1: 07.67 | 100 Breasts | 1: 00.23 |
2: 27.41 | 200 Breasts | 2: 12.24 |
26.61 | 50 Fly | 23.57 |
59.39 | 100 mosquitoes | 52.28 |
2: 14.98 | 200 mosquitoes | 1: 57.96 |
2: 14.63 | 200 IM | 2: 00.68 |
4: 44.34 | 400 IM | 4: 22.07 |
Sweden’s European qualifiers correspond to 16th place at last summer’s European Championships in Budapest, and the four best swimmers in each branch who reach the qualifiers will be eligible to be named Sweden’s LC Euro team.
Most of the qualifying standards are faster than last year’s 2021 Euro standard, and the qualifying period is June 1-July 4, with additional extra swimmers added by July 10. The preliminary squad will be announced on July 5, and the final squad will be announced after additional swimmers are added.
Similar to their World Cup qualifying procedure, all members of Sweden’s World Cup team in May will be automatically nominated for the European Championship squad, which means that Sjöström, Persson and the Hansson sister are already qualified given their nomination for the World Cup team.
With the lighter qualifying conditions for the European Championships, it is likely that Sweden will field a larger, more complete team by the end of the summer meeting compared to their World Cup squad.