Qualification window confirmed for bigger GoCardless National Summer Meet

More swimmers than ever before will be invited to compete at a new-look 2024 GoCardless Swim England National Summer Meet.

The increased number of entries has been revealed as the qualification window for the British Summer Championships and the corresponding home nations meets was confirmed.

For the first time, the National Summer Meet will be held over six days, with a change to the format of previous years.

The changes have been introduced to ‘give a better competition experience’ for swimmers, coaches, officials and parents’.

Selection for the summer competitions are by invitation only based on long course times achieved during the qualifying window, which will open on Friday 8 March and close on Sunday 12 May.

The top-ranked swimmers in each age group will be invited to compete at the British Summer Championships, which takes place at Sheffield’s Ponds Forge International Pool from Saturday 20 July to Friday 26 July.

Following that selection, swimmers will be invited to take part at the Swim England National Summer Meet.

This is also being held at Ponds Forge from Monday 29 July to Saturday 3 August.

Richard Blackshaw, Swim England head of performance, said: “Given that we are going to invite, and give more opportunity to more swimmers than ever before, we have changed the schedule for the GoCardless Swim England National Summer Meet.

“Instead of a five-day meet, we are moving to a six-day meet and I believe this is a really positive move.

“It will give more flexibility and time on three of the days in between the heats and the finals to give a better competition experience for both officials, parents, swimmers and coaches alike.”

Changes to the format

Following a consultation process with key British Swimming and home nations staff along with the national coaches technical panel and coaches, this year will see further revisions to the GoCardless Swim England Summer Meet format.

Ages for open/male and female: 12-13 years, 14-15 years, 16 years, 17 years, 18+ years

Qualification for the 50m events in the 18+ years age group will be via invitation.

Qualification for all 50m events is via invitation from the equivalent 100m event in the 15, 16, 17 years ages.

No 50m events for all ages 14 years and under.

Qualification for the 100m events is via invitation from the equivalent 200m event for all swimmers 13 years of age.

The following events will be available for swimmers 12 years of age: 

• 200m-400m-800m freestyle 
• 200m Backstroke
• 200m Breaststroke
• 200m Butterfly
• 200m-400m Individual Medley 

Para-swimming events will take place across the British Summer Championships and the Swim England National Summer Meet and these will be via invitation only. 

Summer Meets 2024 qualifying window

The qualifying window for the British Summer Championships and Home Nation Summer Meets will open on Friday 8 March and run through to Sunday 12 May 2024. 

The 28 top-ranked swimmers in each event in each of the four younger age groupings will be invited to the British Summer Championships.

In the 18 years and over age group, 36 swimmers will be invited to attend with 12 places guaranteed for the transitioning 18 years old swimmers. The only exceptions to these numbers are the 800m and 1500m events, where the top 20 swimmers will be invited across all age groups

Entry to the GoCardless Swim England Summer Meet is by invitation only, based on long course performances recorded in the designated qualifying window. 

As mentioned, 2024 will see an increased number of swimmers offered the opportunity to compete at the  Summer Meet. Once invitations have been completed for the British Summer Championships, the invitations to the GoCardless Swim England National Summer meet will be as follows:

• The 30 top-ranked swimmers in individual age groups will be invited, with the exception of the 800m and 1500m Freestyle where the top 20 will be invited. 
• In the dual and 18+ age groups, 40 swimmers will be invited to attend where 14 places will be protected for the lowest age with the exception of the 800m and 1500m events, where the top 28 swimmers will be invited with 10 places protected for the lowest age.

Home nation meet choice

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

1. Country of their ranked club (first claim club in England)
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 2023 Home Nation Winter meets or any previous Summer Meet decisions.

Swimmers wishing to be entered in to a home nation Summer Meet based on international representation must complete the following form by clicking here. If you have any questions please email [email protected]. 

Schedule

The Swim England National Summer Meet will begin on Monday 29 July when the 1500m Freestyle open/male and female events, with heat declared winners will be held.

There will then be an open training session.

From Tuesday 30 July, there will be heats and finals on all days.

The full schedule can be viewed by clicking here.

Interim rankings list

This year, weekly rankings lists will be published on a twice-weekly (Tuesday and Friday) basis once the qualifying window opens. 

A final draft rankings list will be produced on 15 May 2024, once the window has closed. 

If it is believed that any of the data contained in the interim lists is incorrect or there are missing results, please report it by emailing [email protected].

Opting out

A duel approach to opting out will 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.

Swimmers can opt out of:

• All summer meets (2024 British and the Home Nation meets)
• 2024 British Summer meet only (but available for home nation meet if invited)
• 2024 home nation meet only (but available for British Summer meet if invited)

Any swimmers wishing to opt out of any of the above should complete the following form via the link here by 5pm Tuesday 7 May 2024. 

Swimmers will receive reminder emails during the window asking them to indicate their summer choice. 

Please note, these reminder emails will be sent to the email address stated on the swimmer’s Online Membership System account. 

Entry mechanism

The invite list for the GoCardless Swim England National Summer Meet will be created on 15 May 2024 and invitations issued thereafter.

In keeping with the process for the British Championships in April, para-swimming multi-classification participation will be by invitation only. Thereafter, the entry mechanism is as above.

Contact email 

To ensure that invitations arrive, swimmers are reminded to ensure their email address is up to date through their home nation online membership system.

More information

Richard Blackshaw has also put together a recording to provide further information, context and rationale behind changes to the GoCardless Swim England National Summer Meet 2024.