By James Sutherland on SwimSwam
USA Swimming won’t be sending a team to this year’s World University Games in Chengdu, China, and is implementing a new plan moving forward that will see the national governing body only field one team per quad to the Games.
A USA Swimming spokesperson recently confirmed the new plan to SwimSwam and added that it will only send a team “if we feel the locations provide the best opportunities for our athletes.”
USA Swimming has not provided an explanation of the reasoning behind the new policy as of the publication of this article.
The World University Games, which feature a summer and winter edition during the same year biennially, hasn’t had a summer version occur since 2019.
The 2021 event was initially pushed from 2021 to 2022, and then postponed a second time until 2023, due to the concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic in China.
Similar to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games that took place in 2021, the Games are still be branded as “Chengdu 2021” despite the event taking place in 2023.
Prior to the second postponement, USA Swimming said that it wouldn’t send a team to the 2022 edition, shifting its quad plan to focus on fielding a team in 2023.
Now, with the event getting postponed a second time, USA Swimming said it will now look to send a squad in 2025, which is scheduled to take place in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany.
With USA Swimming opting not to send a team, there will likely be an opportunity for top college and university programs to apply to represent the U.S. at the event, which was the case last year prior to ponement.
The 2023 Winter World University Games are currently ongoing in Lake Placid, N.Y., running from Jan. 12-22.
The Chengdu 2021 Summer Games are scheduled for July 28-Aug. 8, 2023.
SwimSwam: USA Swimming Won’t Send Team To 2023 World University Games In Chengdu
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