The international swimming federation (FINA) has unveiled the 2021 calendar for the Artistic Swimming World Series (ASWS).
The 2021 schedule is vastly different than in the past, both in its format and order, albeit no new countries are expected to host. This series will feature eight meets in total, including the Super Final and two virtual events.
Indeed as the vast majority of countries around the world are still heavily dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, FINA has opted to hold two virtual events to start off, hosted by Canada and the U.S. The other six events are for now scheduled to be in-person.
(This schedule has been edited on Nov. 19 to reflect changes in dates of both virtual events)
- February 19 – 21: #1 Virtual Event, U.S.A
- March 11 – 13: #2 China Open in Suzhou, China
- April 9 – 11: #3 in Budapest, Hungary
- April 16 – 18: #4 in Kazan, Russia
- April 23 – 25: #5 French Open in Paris, France
- May 28 – 30: #6 Virtual Event, Canada
- June 4 – 6: #7 Hellas Beetles Cup in Alexandroupoli, Greece
- June 11 – 13: #8 Super Final in Barcelona, Spain (TBC) *
* While FINA does not confirm Barcelona as the host of the ASWS Super Final, the competition does appear on the official calendar of the RFEN, the Spanish federation.
FINA has not yet published further details on the virtual events. Suzhou, Budapest, Kazan, Paris and Alexandroupoli were already all selected as host cities for the 2020 circuit. Unfortunately this time, it looks like Egypt has withdrawn its bid to organize one, as it planned to do in 2020.
In addition, this means that there will be no in-person major international meet before one of the most highly anticipated competitions of the year, the Olympic Games Qualification Tournament, scheduled for March 4 – 7 in Tokyo. By then, many countries will not have competed in at least one year.
As a reminder in 2020, only the first leg in Paris occurred successfully. It ended up being the only international meet of the year. The rest of the ASWS circuit, and quite literally everything else, was ultimately cancelled or postponed because of the pandemic.
Article by Christina Marmet
Cover photo by Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia.
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