Summer Meets Qualifying Window Announced

10 Jan 2020

The Qualifying Window for the British Summer Championships and the Home Nation Summer Meets will open on Friday 13th March 2020 and run through to Sunday 10th May 2020.

Entry to the key end of season events is by invitation only, from performances recorded in the designated Qualifying Window. The 24 top ranked swimmers in each event in each age grouping will be invited to attend the British Summer Championships, except for the 800m and 1500m events where the top 18 will be invited.

Who are the British Summer Championships for?

The meet ONLY caters for the following categories of swimmer:

  1. Swimmers who are currently eligible to represent and have Great Britain as their recognised country of international representation with FINA (irrespective of where in the world they live and train), and
  2. Foreign nationals who live and train in the United Kingdom for the majority of the calendar year in a British swimming club/programme. 

No exceptions will be made - any athlete who does not sit within one of these categories will not receive an invite to compete.

Entries will only be accepted from competitors registered as members of a British Swimming Home Nation - Swim England, Scottish Swimming or Swim Wales.

Home Nation meet choice

Swimmers can choose to be entered in to a Home Nation Summer Meet in two ways;

  1. Country of their ranked club (first claim club in Scotland)
  2. Country of International Representation

Swimmers should note however that when identifying qualifiers for the Home Nations meets, the automated system in place assumes athletes wish to be categorised by the country of their ranked club. 

There is no direct relation to any decisions you made to attend any of the December 2019 Home Nation Winter meets.

Swimmers wishing to be entered in to a Home Nation Summer Meet based on International Representation MUST email HNMeetChoice@swimming.org with the following information;

  • Name
  • Date of birth
  • Membership number
  • Current ranked club
  • Registered Country of International Representation
  • Clear declaration that they wish to be selected by Country of International Representation for the 2020 Home Nation Meets

Information must be received no later than 5pm, 22nd April 2020. There will be no exceptions, and no changes will be made after this time.

Interim ranking lists

This year weekly rankings lists will be published on a twice weekly basis (Tuesday and Friday) once the Qualifying Window opens. A final draft rankings list will be produced on 13th May 2020, once the Window has closed. If it is believed that any of the data contained in these interim lists is incorrect, please report it by emailing britishevents@swimming.org

Opting out

A dual approach to opting out will continue to be taken. The idea behind the opt-out is to ensure that as many of the available places at the British Summer Championships are filled, with no empty spaces in events. Swimmers not wishing to compete in events are requested to withdraw to ensure other swimmers can be invited to the British Summer Championships and the respective Home Nation Summer Meets. 

We will also be sending out reminder emails during the Window to encourage you to indicate your summer decision by using an automated reply system. 

If swimmers wish to opt out of the initial invite list, please email HNMeetChoice@swimming.org by midday on 13th May 2020.

Entry Mechanism

The initial invite list for all Summer Meet entries will be created on 18th May 2020 and invitations issued thereafter, starting with the British Summer Championships.

There will be a short window of 13 days for swimmers to accept their initial invites to compete at the British Summer Championships. If, by 5pm on 1st June 2020, swimmers have not entered the event, invites will be passed down to the next highly ranked swimmer to fill the place. 

IF SWIMMERS RECEIVE AN INVITE ON 18th MAY FOR THE BRITISH SUMMER CHAMPIONSHIPS, AND WANT TO COMPETE AT THEM, IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT ENTRIES ARE CONFIRMED BY 5pm, 1st JUNE 2020.

There will then be a secondary entry when new invites are sent out to fill any remaining places. Entries to the Home Nation Summer Meets will also be sent out at this point.

Contact email address reminders

To ensure that your invitation arrives, can you please ensure your email address is up to date through your Home Nation online membership system.


Further reminders of key dates and milestones will be posted in due course. 

The 2020 British Summer Championships will be held from 21st – 26th  July at the Ponds Forge International Swimming Pool, Sheffield – more details of the event can be found here.

Home Nation Summer Meets:

  • For details about the Swim England Summer Meet click here
  • For details about the Scottish Swimming Summer Meet click here
  • For details about the Swim Wales Summer Open click here