The Week That Was: World Championships to Happen in May 2022, Adam Peaty Back in the Water!

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Photo Courtesy: Adam Peaty

The Week That Was is sponsored bySuit-extractor-logo

The Week That Was sponsored by Suitmate.

There was a lot of revamping around the future schedule in the sport of swimming as people are getting comfortable in their homes as we enter the month of May. Reigning Olympic gold medalist Adam Peaty was able to return to the pool in the comfort of his own backyard as he will be training for his 100 breaststroke gold medal defense in a flume pool. Many of Great Britain’s national team swimmers received their own flume pools so they can get back in the water safely.

The World Championships have been officially moved to 2022 to accommodate the 2021 Olympic Games as the championships will take place in May, crowding the swimming calendar with a boat load of international meets. USA Swimming also announced a tentative national meet schedule with a hope of returning to the pool in a few months. However, legendary Olympic coach Mark Schubert made a public return to the pool on Friday with his Mission Viejo swimmers.

Read below the five biggest stories in The Week That Was sponsored by Suitmate.

The Week That Was #5: USA Swimming Unveils Revamped Schedule

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A crowded pool – a faded memory at this point. Photo Courtesy: Connor Trimble

By Andy Ross

With the Olympic Games officially being pushed back a year to avoid safety issues with the coronavirus pandemic, an entire sporting calendar needed to be shifted. USA Swimming officially moved its Olympic Trials earlier this month to June 13 – 20. On Monday, USA Swimming President & CEO Tim Hinchey sent a letter to members detailing the tentative dates for the 2020-21 national events schedule.

If the virus is under control by the end of the summer, then USA Swimming will introduce 14 – 16 regional events in mid to late August. Speedo Sectionals, Futures and the Speedo Summer Championships have been cancelled for this summer in order to refocus on introducing a new series of summer events.

  • Nov. 5-8, 2020: TYR Pro Swim Series at Richmond | Richmond, Va.
  • Dec. 2-5, 2020: Toyota U.S. Open | Atlanta, Ga. (LCM)
  • Dec. 9-12, 2020: Speedo Juniors East | Atlanta, Ga. (SCY)
  • Dec. 9-12, 2020: Speedo Juniors West | Austin, Texas (SCY)
  • January 13-16,2021: TYR Pro Swim Series at Knoxville | Knoxville, Tenn.
  • March 3-6, 2021: TYR Pro Swim Series at San Antonio | San Antonio, Texas
  • April 8-11, 2021: TYR Pro Swim Series at Mission Viejo | Mission Viejo, Calif.
  • May 12-15, 2021: TYR Pro Swim Series at Indianapolis | Indianapolis, Ind.
  • June 13-20, 2021: USA Swimming Olympic Team Trials – Swimming | Omaha, Neb.

#4: Sun Yang Case File Opened For Appeal

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Sun Yang – Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant

By Craig Lord, Swimming World Editor-in-Chief

Sun Yangthe Chinese swimmer who was served an eight-year suspension for tampering with a blood sample he had signed off into the custody of anti-doping officers in September 2018, has appealed against the decision.

Sun Yang had until last close of business last Thursday to file his appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal (SFT) against a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling on February 28 against him and in favour of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

The SFT does not confirm the details of appeals but a case file has been opened with a number attached to the “Sun Yang Case”.

WADA had called for a suspension of eight years after a FINA Doping Panel decided on January 3, 2019, to let Sun Yang off with a caution rather than impose a penalty despite the outcome of an acrimonious dispute with three anti-doping testers who visited the swimmers home in Zhejiang Province on September 4 last year.

Sun’s key arguments included an allegation that two of the testers did not present adequate credentials nor, in the case of the nurse there to take blood, adequate qualifications/licences. Sun was not alone in his argument: three officials, including WADA-twice-banned doctor Ba Zhen, were party to events that led to a blood sample signed off by Sun being taken back from the chain of command and the casing of a vial smashed on the pavement with hammer outside the control room by a security guard called to take action by Sun’s mother, Ming Yang.

The Week That Was #3: Mark Schubert Makes Return to Pool Under Strict Social Distancing Guidelines

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Photo Courtesy: Mark Schubert

By Andy Ross

Mark Schubert, who has been on deck at seven Olympic Games and coaching at Mission Viejo in California, made his first appearance on the pool deck Friday after spending an extended amount of time away because of the Coronavirus pandemic, he announced on Facebook.

The legendary coach wrote a proposal to the city of Mission Viejo, with the approval of USA Swimming, and got the green light to train a small group as long as they adhered to strict social distancing guidelines. The Mayor in Mission Viejo? Former Schubert charge Brian Goodell, the Olympic 400m and 1500m freestyle champion of 1976 whose 30-lap victory was scorched to at the helm of a tight three-way battle with USA teammate Bobby Hackett and Australia’s Stephen Holland that remains one of the great Olympic swimming thrillers.

The idea of making a safe return to the pool had been brewing in Schubert’s head for a couple weeks, and finally came to fruition on Friday.

“We just trained 18 swimmers – one per lane short course,” Mark Schubert told Swimming World. “They come in one at a time and put their equipment at the end of the lane. They come in with their suits on because the locker rooms and showers are locked. They swim the workout in the center of the lane because they are 9-foot lanes.

“When the workout is over with, they leave one at a time and go to their car one at a time and split. If they need to go to the bathroom, we have single bathrooms in the swim school and they are responsible for disinfecting it afterwards. We have disinfectant and hand sanitizer so the city was impressed.”

#2: Adam Peaty Back in the Water

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Adam Peaty in his backyard pool – Photo Courtesy: Adam Peaty

By Craig Lord, Swimming World Editor-in-Chief

Adam Peaty is a big fish on dry land no more. The Olympic 100m breaststroke champion, locked out of his Loughborough haunt in COVID-19 lockdown season, has had a pool flown in to his backyard: the tank was craned in over the roof of his home a few miles from the British University where he would normally be putting in the lengths.

Every afternoon, the World champion and record holder can now be found swimming against the tide of a current made for coronavirus season.

The ‘SwimFit’ pool and flume is about a tenth of the size of the Olympic 50m pool in which Peaty, 24, excels as the pushiest pioneer of pace in the history of 50 and 100 meters breaststroke racing.

The Week That Was. #1: World Championships to Happen in May 2022

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Photo Courtesy: @Fukuoka2021jp

By Liz Byrnes, European Correspondent

The World Championships will take place in Fukuoka, Japan, from May 13-29 2022, governing body FINA have announced and as revealed by Swimming World last week.

The worlds were initially due to go ahead in the Japanese city from 16 July to 1 August 2021 but the rescheduling of the Olympic Games to 23 July-8 August that year because of the coronavirus pandemic meant new dates had to be found.

The World Masters Championships will now take place on island of Kyushu (JPN), from May 31-June 9, 2022.

The shift means that 2022 will be congested with elite swimmers competing in up to three international events that year.

For instance, the British team would have worlds, Commonwealth Games and the European Championships with Australian, Canada and New Zealand also taking on the first two events as well as the Pan-Pacific Championships.

So too will Japan and China have worlds and pan-pacs but also the Asian Games in September of that year.

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