By Noelle Theodoulou on SwimSwam
USA Swimming has released the official meet packet regarding the 2022 Futures Championships. This summer will mark the 7th edition of Futures and will see some changes to the format.
Region-based sites all over the nation host Futures simultaneously, though results are not officially combined. The competitions will occur between July 27th-30th this summer. In previous years, there were four hosting sites for four designated regions. This year, the Board of Directors has added another site and adjusted the boundary map to accommodate the 5th region.
- Geneva, OH – Spire Institute
- Cary, NC – Triangle Aquatic Center
- Minneapolis, MN – Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center
- College Station, TX – Texas A&M University
- Santa Clara, CA – George F. Haines International Aquatic Center
Since 2016, USA Swimming divided the country into 4 regions – Eastern, Southern, Central, and Western. A name has yet to be given to the recently delineated region. The newly established region subtracts mostly from the previous Western region. The new zone covers the states of Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas – added from the Southern zone. The Southern region no longer includes Texas or West Virginia. Instead, it now has Michigan and Indiana. The Western region shrunk considerably with its number dropping from 13 to 7 states.
Updated USA Swimming Boundary Map
The Futures Championships are designed as an intermediate step between Sectional Championships and Junior National or National Championships, and are open to swimmers of all ages.
Similar to last year, each site is capped at 800 swimmers. As a result of the new region, however, the potential number of participants has increased from 3,200 to 4,000.
The Futures time standards remain the same as they have been since 2019. See below for the full 2022 time standards.
Futures bridges the gap between Sectionals and Junior National Championships and provides developing swimmers with elite competitions to race against other swimmers who are in the same position. There are no time standards that make an athlete “too fast” for these meets, just minimum time standards.
Breakout swimmer Claire Weinstein, who recently qualified for the 2022 World Championships team in the 200-meter freestyle, competed at last year’s Futures meet in Richmond, VA. She now has the fastest time swam by a 15-year-old American in the 200 free.
Other recognizable names who raced at last year’s Futures meets include UVA freshman and 2022 NCAA-title winner Gretchen Walsh, US National Junior Team member Erin Gemmell, and 2022 NCAA champion in the 1650 free Paige McKenna.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: USA Swimming Adds 5th Meet to 2022 Futures Championships