800 Free Removed, 400s Timed Finals, & Prelims Start Earlier

After an eight-year absence, the Youth Olympic Games are set to kick off tomorrow, Sunday, November 1, in Dakar, Senegal, and run through Friday, November 6. On the eve of the meet, however, organizers have been forced to make significant changes to the swimming schedule because of the heat.

In an email to SwimSwam, a World Aquatics official stated that “due to the recently high outdoor temperatures in Dakar, the water temperature in the competition and training pools is elevated. As a result, adjustments have been made to the swimming competition programme to protect the athletes and provide the best possible conditions for the participants.”

The forecast for Dakar shows daily highs of 85-87°F (29-31°C) and overnight lows of 80-81°F (27°C) throughout the meet.

As a result, the organization has moved the preliminary session start time up one hour, from 11:00 a.m. local time to 10:00 a.m.

World Aquatics has also made all 400m events timed finals, to be swum in the mornings, and removed the 800m freestyle from the schedule altogether. On an “exceptional basis,” a swimmer entered in the 800 may be permitted to enter another event so that each athlete swims the minimum two events required.

This year’s meet is smaller by number of competitors than 2018 (390 athletes), but broader in terms of national representation (139 countries). 307 swimmers from 154 countries are entered to swim, with the pool portion of the event set to run from November 1-6.

While many of the major swimming nations are absent, including the USA, Australia, Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, and Switzerland, there are still some global swimming powers planning to race. Among the countries that have entered athletes are China, 2018 medals table winners Russia, Italy, Hungary, New Zealand, South Korea, Poland, Belgium, Greece, and South Africa.

Among the biggest names who raced at the 2018 Youth Olympics were Kristof Milak of Hungary, Kliment Kolesnikov and Andrei Minakov of Russia, Thomas Ceccon of Italy, Anastasia Gorbenko of Israel, Barbora Seemanova of Czech Republic, and Kaylee McKeown of Australia. Milak and McKeown each won multiple gold medals across the last two Olympic Games in Tokyo and Paris.

While the Youth Olympics has historically been a subordinated meet for the United States, instead prioritizing World Junior and Junior Pan Pac meets, Rhyan White and Kate Douglass became the first Youth Olympics alum to make the US Olympic Team in swimming in 2021. USA Swimming has historically sent its ‘next tier’ of junior swimmers to the Youth Olympic Games, meaning that athletes who participate at that year’s Pan Pacific Championships or Junior Pan Pacific Championships were not allowed to swim at the Youth Olympic Games.

This year will represent the fifth edition of the Games, with recent hosts of the Summer Youth Olympic Games focused on regions that don’t yet have the infrastructure to host a full Olympic Games, but that demonstrate significant growth opportunities for the Olympic movement.