Bruno Moreno Gutiérrez

Professional Sports Analyst & Journalist

Worlds are almost here, right?

 It has been almost 3 years since the last World Swimming Championships and people cannot wait anymore. Not only fans are waiting for this competition to happen, but athletes really want to carry the momentum they have built in the past few months, and have the best championship of their lives.

The Olympic Games were a huge breakout meet for a lot of young stars and these athletes are becoming the face of the high-performance swimming community. Some of these swimmers achieved gold medals at the Olympics, while others were just out of the podium.

That being said, this would be the appropriate swimming meet to see if these young stars matured and can use their Olympic experience to finally medal or become world champion.

What can we expect from the swimmers?

Since the pandemic at the beginning of 2020, professional and high level swimmers have only had the Olympics in Tokyo as the major long course meet. Even though ISL, occurred in 2020 and 2021, swimmers have only had one opportunity to prove themselves.

On one hand some of them achieved their goals in Tokyo and now are in the process of taking a break and coming back to proper form.

On the other side, young talented athletes have been gaining experience in international competitions to be on the best form, mentally and physically, to confront the biggest swimming meet of 2022 or at least that is what everyone was expecting.

FINA might postpone Worlds:

The most desired swimming event of the year might not happen, according to sources (SwimSwam, 2021).

The international competition was supposed to be organized by Japan in the city of Fukuoaka, however, due to a recent increase in COVID cases in the Asian country, officials are really considering to push the meet to 2023.

There was a reunion, where the FINA bureau discussed the current scenario of Japan and it appears the it is very likely that the World Championships who are scheduled for May 13, to May 29, 2022 are going to happen until next year.

From the perspective of the Japanese Government and the committee, it is a very reasonable decision because since the Olympics Japan has had considerable increase in COVID cases.

Japan was one of the first countries to face the pandemic and so far is one of the few countries that has implemented a lot of regulations in order to prioritize the health of its citizens.

The new variant, Omicron, is very contagious and the last thing FINA and the committee want is a swimmer to test positive.

On the other hand, if these news are seen from the perspective of the athletes, coaches and fans; the outcome is very different.

Swimmers just want to race, get the opportunity to achieve their goals. This mentality of wanting to be better each competition is just amazing and is a characteristic that most swimmers possessed. specifically the new generation.

These young male and female swimmers like Michael Andrew, Andrei Minakov, Milak and Regan Smith; are becoming the face of the sport and therefore, have a huge responsibility with the entire swimming community.

Even though the desire of racing is very high, athletes, coaches and fans need to understand the current health situation of the world.

Everyone knows the preparation that it is required to compete at a World Championships and postponing one year the event, is not the ideal plan, nevertheless, the world already saw what happens when you give swimmers one more year of preparation.

One thing is sure, whenever the World Championships happen; they are going to be the fastest.

Do you think World’s might happen? 

Let us know your opinion in the comments!