25-Yard Races Will Not Be Added To Official US Masters Swimming Schedule

JACKSONVILLE, Florida, September 20. THOSE hoping to see 25-yard races added to the official U.S. Masters Swimming list of events will have to wait a little longer. The proposal to add make 25s a permanent part of the program was knocked down by the House of Delegates after a lengthy discussion.

The USMS Rules Committee did not recommend that the proposal be presented to the House of Delegates for a vote, sources told Swimming World today. But after amending the proposal, the House of Delegates decided to put the matter to a vote. The proposal was killed after it failed to get the two-thirds majority needed.

Despite today’s defeat, many local meets are likely to throw in some 25-yard races to their schedules. Some competitions have already begun to include 25s into their programs in the past year. Many have said that 25s of the four strokes is appealing to them in thinking about returning to competition, while others say it adds a little more rest time at local meets that might run quickly.

Bundled in the proposal was the addition of 100-yard relays. If the proposal had passed, future national championships would have included the 25s on the schedule if the USMS Championship Committee decided to add them.

One rule that did get approval today was allowing the backstroke start ledge to be used in Masters competition, to fall in line with FINA’s and USA Swimming’s approval of the device.

One final major announcement from USMS’s week of meetings was awarding Greensboro, N.C., the 2016 spring (short course) nationals and Portland the 2016 summer (long course) nationals. USMS earlier decided that the 2016 summer nationals will not be in Omaha after the U.S. Olympic Trials, as it had been in 2012.

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