Masters swimming
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Masters swimming is a special class of competitive swimming for swimmers 25 years or older (in the USA, there is an 18-24 age group). They compete within age groups of five years, with a swimmer's age group in a certain year determined by his/her age on the last day of that year:
Age Groups: 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, and so on at 5-year increments, the last group being for any age above 100 years.
The rules and distances are nearly the same as for competitive swimming. However, meet programs include 2 mixed (2 men/2 women) relay events in addition to the all men's and all women's relay events. Mixed relays are swam exclusively in masters' competition. The age groups for the relay events is determined by the sum of the ages of each team component, allowing for swimmers of very different ages to compete together in the same team. Age groups for relays are 100-119, 120-159, 160-199, and so on at 40-year increments.
FINA organizes World Championships in masters swimming since 1986, but 2 editions were held in the pre-FINA era:
1978 – Toronto, CAN 1984 – Christchurch, NZL
1986 – Tokyo, JAP 1988 – Brisbane, AUS 1990 – Rio de Janeiro, BRA 1992 – Indianapolis, USA 1994 – Montreal, CAN 1996 – Sheffield, ENG 1998 – Casablanca, MOR 2000 – Munich, GER 2002 – Christchurch, NZL 2004 – Riccione, ITA 2006 – Palo Alto, USA 2008 - Perth, AUS
Like in competitive swimming, there are World records for masters swimming, but they can only be set in masters meets. Masters swimming records are available at the FINA website masters section.
