World Aquatics has announced a three stop swimming World Cup series in October, giving athletes a chance to qualify for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games in six newly introduced 50m events, Trybal News reports.
The series will take place in Berlin, Paris and London, with each city hosting a leg of the competition. Swimmers will compete for Olympic places in the 50m butterfly, backstroke and breaststroke events, which have recently joined the Olympic programme.
The schedule promises a busy month, with the Olympic Games in Los Angeles now just over seven months away.
Berlin, Paris and London to Host Olympic Qualification Races
Berlin will host the opening leg at the SSE Swimming Hall from 15 to 17 October. The venue regularly stages World Cup events and hosted the most recent Swimming World Cup on European soil in 2023.
The competition will then move to Paris for the second leg, which runs from 22 to 24 October. The Olympic Aquatics Centre, which can accommodate 5,000 spectators, will stage its first major international swimming competition since the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
During those Games, the venue hosted diving, artistic swimming and water polo events.
London will bring the series to a close from 29 to 31 October at the London Aquatics Centre. The venue is regarded as one of the world’s best swimming facilities and hosted the swimming events at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Each city will stage two events with Olympic places at stake. In Berlin, swimmers will compete for qualification in the men’s 50m backstroke and women’s 50m butterfly.
Paris will determine the qualifiers in the men’s 50m butterfly and women’s 50m breaststroke. Meanwhile, London will host the men’s 50m breaststroke and women’s 50m backstroke contests.
“Each city has an outstanding sporting pedigree and Olympic heritage and therefore offers a fitting stage to determine the qualifiers for 50m events newly introduced to the Olympic programme for LA28,” said World Aquatics President Husain Al Musallam.
The qualification format will follow the same schedule at all three stops. Preliminary heats will take place on the morning of the opening day, with quarter finals scheduled for the evening.
Semi finals will follow during the evening session on the second day. Finally, the third day will feature eight lane finals, where the top six finishers in each event will secure their places at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
The series will give swimmers a clear route to Olympic qualification while bringing elite competition to three major European swimming venues in October.
