Following last month’s introduction of a newly-designed virtual competition format, USA Swimming has announced the Speedo Swim Again Virtual Series. This is a month-long national competition that will run from September 7 to October 11, 2020.
Race results from across the USA, from age-group swimmers to Olympians, will be submitted to USA Swimming and result in a weekly three-division top-8 club leaderboard.
The Speedo Swim Again Virtual Series aims to provide an even higher level of competition to the virtual format that has seen over 19,000 swimmers participate since July 1, 2020. The series gives USA Swimming clubs an opportunity to swim in their local pools while sharing the leaderboard with teams from coast to coast.
“As more pools across the country continue to safely open, our team has focused on taking the next steps in creating a unique competitive and racing opportunity for our members,” USA Swimming Managing Director of Sport Development Joel Shinofield said.
“We are incredibly appreciative of Speedo’s support in helping us to provide this opportunity and to supporting our efforts to get our athletes’ back to competition and achieving their goals.”
Speedo USA President, Jim Gerson added “We are proud to partner and support this new innovative way of reaching our swim community. As the leader in competitive swim, Speedo stands on our messaging that there is no stopping we, our united swim community, who always stand together as we swim on.”
Teams who participate in the Speedo Swim Again Virtual Series will be divided into three divisions based on historical age-group rankings and team size. Each week will feature a new set of events, with division champions being named on Wednesday, October 14.
Throughout the series, teams will also be eligible for cash prizes and Speedo products supplied from SpeedoUSA. The club that finishes at the top of each division will receive an US$800 cash prize, followed by a US$500 and US$300 cash prize distributed to the second and third-place clubs, respectively, in each division.
Additionally, clubs are encouraged to use the #SpeedoSwimAgainSeries hashtag when posting about the series on social media for further prizing opportunities. The top-10 clubs with the most socially engaging posts per division will receive a US$500 prize, while a US$200 bonus will be given to the team with the most creative social media campaign or post that includes the #SpeedoSwimAgainSeries hashtag.
The competition will feature both sanctioned and non-sanctioned meets, in either short-course yards, short-course metre or long-course metre events. Events will be ranked and scored based off a modified FINA Points formula to normalize times across courses.
This competition format will also provide an opportunity for swimmers to log IMR and IMX scores, point systems that allow for comparison of the quality of performances across strokes, distances and events, as well as between age groups. Clubs can compare scores by utilizing USA Swimming’s Virtual Meet Simulator on usaswimming.org/times/virtual-offerings/virtual-meet-simulator.
A full breakdown of the Speedo Swim Again Virtual Series scoring system, event schedule and resources is available by visiting usaswimming.org/speedoswimagain. Official Swim Again merchandise will be available at Elsmore Swim Shop.
