British Swimming has today unveiled its Para-Swimming selection policy for this summer, which has been made available in three different formats to cater for all types of impairments.
With the aim of being fully inclusive, British Swimming have released a selection policy for the World Para-Swimming Championships that is available in PDF, PDF large print and an audio version, the first time it has been released in multiple formats.
The qualification meet for the World Championships is the British Para-Swimming International Meet (BPSIM) which doubles up as the British Para-Swimming trials and a World Series event. Taking place at Tollcross International Swimming Centre in Glasgow, the event runs from 25-28 April, with entries already open.
The selection policy is also accompanied by a short video from Head Coach Rob Aubry, who outlines the key areas of the selection policy and any notable changes from 12 months ago. The key change is that any athletes who finish in the top two at BPSIM and possess the required qualifying time will be considered for selection. Qualifying times for each event will be released after the Australian leg of World Series, which takes place in Melbourne from 15-17 February.
On the selection policy being unveiled, Performance Director Chris Furber commented:
“We’re always looking to do more for our athletes and releasing our selection policy in a variety of different formats should hopefully cater to as wide an audience as possible. As one of the UK’s biggest and most successful governing bodies we want to lead the way both in and out of the pool.
“Whilst there is no confirmed host for the Para-Swimming World Championships at this point, we are hopeful that World Para-Swimming will find a resolution in the next couple of months. With this in mind we want to allow our athletes to prepare as normal, so we feel sticking to our tried and tested qualification process, which will again be used next year in the run up to Tokyo 2020, is the best way forward.”
The selection policies can be viewed here
Last year British Swimming, in conjunction with the Amateur Swimming Association, was awarded the Advanced Equality Standard for Sport award, having demonstrated significant progress towards diversity across their staff, board, members, coaches and participants, as well as maintaining an inclusive approach throughout the organisations’ functions, policies and procedures.