Spanish Swimming Nationals And Olympic Trials Latest In Wave Of Coronavirus Cancellations

It Rains In Spain Too: the nation of Olympic 200m butterfly champion Mireia Belmonte, became the latest in a wave of countries suspending Olympic trials, national and other major championships today when it announced the Royal Spanish Swimming Federation (RFEN) announced this evening that the Spanish Championships due in Sabadell from April 1-5 have been postponed until further notice.

On recommendation of the Spanish Health Ministry in the midst of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the RFEN cancelled the planned meet, which also served as selection trials for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, to avoid “the risk posed by a massive concentration of athletes, even without an audience” and the potential consequences.

Further, Spain noted that closures of some but not all training facilities had “caused unequal competitive conditions” and as such it would be not only unsafe but unfair to proceed with the national championships.

The federation stated:

“The RFEN is aware that the suspension of this competition deprives Spanish swimmers of the opportunity to qualify for various international competitions. Undoubtedly, new selection criteria will have to be addressed, which will be communicated as soon as a concrete proposal can be made, once the situation stabilises and, we hope, improves the situation in Spain and we also have confirmation that international events at risk of being cancelled will actually take place.”

Members of the federation will be kept informed off developments.

The Spanish cancellation was one of many this day, the French Junior nationals gone, as are the NCAA Championships, a 30-day suspension of events by USA Swimming, the. there was the cancellation of the Danish Open and Olympic Trials, the Swim Open, Stockholm, a Norwegian lockdown that cancelled sport, FINA postponements and cancellations and a plea from Italy to halt the Olympic Games to avoid Tokyo 2020 going ahead in July when many of the world’s best swimmers may no longer be in the kind of shape they would have been but for the pandemic and its knock-on effects.

An Extraordinary Day In Swimming History:

And that followed this:

Guidance on Water and Coronavirus

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Andrea Bravo Fernandez

4 years ago

Hopefully it will be rescheduled.