British Swimming can provide the following update on the selection policy for this year's World Aquatics Junior and LEN European Junior Swimming Championships, in light of changes to the competitions’ age categories.
In line with the recent change made by World Aquatics, LEN have announced a switch to the age ranges across the boys and girls sections of their European Junior Championships, with all athletes aged 14-18 eligible for the competition with immediate effect. The previous setup saw girls aged 14-17 and boys aged 15-18 eligible to compete at the event.
Following this announcement, the British Swimming selection policy for the 2023 European Junior Swimming Championships in Belgrade, Serbia and World Junior Championships in Netanya, Israel has been updated to reflect these changes and ensure that eligible athletes are in a position to make the teams should they meet the consideration conditions.
This also means that the format of the Junior and Priority Paris finals at the upcoming British Swimming Championships will be adjusted accordingly, in line with the LEN age changes. The Junior final will now be for swimmers born in 2005 - 2009, while in order to align with the new LEN under-23 competition, set for its inaugural staging in Dublin in August, the Priority Paris finals will be open to athletes born in the year 2000 or later.
The event's Meet Conditions have been updated accordingly and can be found on the event page.
British Swimming also advises that there are no plans to change the format of the 2023 British Summer Championship age groupings.
Speaking on the announcement, British Swimming Head of Performance Development Alan Lynn said: "We feel it is important to give boys and girls an equitable opportunity to compete at events such as the European Junior Championships and the World Aquatics Junior Championships. We acknowledge the change to the age groupings, and support the addition of the older age for girls. We have recognised this change by adapting our relevant selection policy and the format of the finals at next month's British Swimming Championships.
"We are excited to see the next crop of top British swimmers in action at Ponds Forge at the British Championships, and from there, we look forward to sending a strong team to Belgrade in the summer, as we target another successful meet at what is a hugely important competition opportunity for our young athletes."
The 2023 selection policies for swimming are live on the British Swimming website.