Finswimming World Championships

The Finswimming World Championships is the peak international event for the underwater sport of finswimming. These are conducted on behalf of the sport's governing body, Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS) by an affiliated national federation.

Scheduling

The championship is split into two events on the basis of age for both male and female swimmers - seniors (i.e. 18 years and older) and juniors (i.e. 12 to 17 years old).^[1] The senior championship was first held in 1976 while the junior championship was first held in 1989.^[2] From 1976 to 1990, the senior championships were held every four years, except for the championship held in Moscow during 1982, and from 1990 to 2006 it was held every two years.^[2] The junior championship has been held every two years from 1993, with the exception of the years 2005 and 2006.^[2] As of 2007, the championships have been held every two years, with the senior age group event being held in the odd years starting with 2007, while the junior age group event is held in even years starting with 2008.^[1]

Organisation

A world championship is conducted at two sites within a geographical locality - one being an olympic-size swimming pool (also known as a long course pool) and the other being an open water site suitable for long distance finswimming.^[1]

The pool competition is carried out over five days with qualifying heats held in the morning and finals held in the afternoon. Races are conducted in the following techniques and distances for both male and female swimmers:

• Surface finswimming (SF) - individual races for distances of 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m, and relays for 4 × 100 m and 4 × 200 m.
• Bi-Fins (BF, also known as ‘Stereo-fins’) - 50m, 100m and 200m.
• Apnoea finswimming (AP also known as ‘apnea’) - 50m while juniors younger than 14 years old swim only 25m.
• Immersion finswimming (IM) - 100m, 400m and 800m.^[1]

As of 2014, the long distance competition is held over one day for senior and juniors swimmers with the following schedule: Morning - 4 x 2 km mixed team relay (2 men and 2 women) and Afternoon - 6 km individual swim. National federations may register a maximum of one relay team and a maximum of four individuals for the 6 km race. Long distance swimming is only open to SF and BF techniques.^[1][3]

History

Senior championship

Year	Date	Championship	Location event	# Athletes	# Events
1976	August 30 – September 5	1st Finswimming World Championships	Hannover, West Germany[4]		11(m), 10(w)
1980	August 5 – 10	2nd Finswimming World Championships	Bologne, Italy[5]		11(m), 10(w)
1982	August 24 – 29	3rd Finswimming World Championships	Moscow, USSR[6]		10(m), 10(w)
1986	August 3 – 10	4th Finswimming World Championships	West Berlin[7]		11(m), 10(w)
1990	August 28 – September 2	5th Finswimming World Championships	Rome, Italy		11(m), 11(w)
1992	August 17 – 24	6th Finswimming World Championships	Athens, Greece		11(m), 11(w)
1994	October 24 – 31	7th Finswimming World Championships	Dongguan, China		12(m), 12(w)
1996	August 18 – 25	8th Finswimming World Championships	Dunaújváros, Hungary		12(m), 12(w)
1998	August 29 – September 6	9th Finswimming World Championships	Cali, Colombia		12(m), 12(w)
2000	October 1 – 09	10th Finswimming World Championships	Palma de Mallorca, Spain		12(m), 12(w)
2002	September 7 – 16	11th Finswimming World Championships	Patras, Greece		12(m), 12(w)
2004	October 21 – 29	12th Finswimming World Championships	Shanghai, China		12(m), 12(w)
2006	July 2 – 12	13th Finswimming World Championships	Turin, Italy		15(m), 15(w)
2007	July 27 – August 6	14th Finswimming World Championships	Bari, Italy		18(m), 18(w)
2009	August 20 – 30	15th Finswimming World Championships	St. Petersburg, Russia	212	18(m), 18(w)
2011	July 28 – August 7	16th Finswimming World Championships	Hódmezővásárhely, Hungary[8]	350	18(m), 18(w)
2013	August 11 – August 21	17th Finswimming World Championships	Kazan, Russia		18(m), 18(w)
2015	July 15 – July 22	18th Finswimming World Championships[9]	Yantai China
2016	June 22 - June 28	19th Finswimming World Championships	Volos, Greece

Junior championship

Year	Date	Championship	Location event	# Athletes	# Events
1989	July 16 – 18	1st Finswimming Junior World Championship	Dunaújváros, Hungary[10]
1993	September 2 – 5	2nd Finswimming Junior World Championships	Lyon, France[11]
1995	July 24 – 30	3rd Finswimming Junior World Championships	Bratislava, Slovakia[12]
1997	August 18 – 24	4th Finswimming Junior World Championships	Balatonfűzfő, Hungary[13]
1999	August 4– 8	5th Finswimming Junior World Championships	Strasbourg, France[14]
2001	July 23 – 30	6th Finswimming Junior World Championships	Aguascalientes, Mexico[15]
2003	August 30 – September 7	7th Finswimming Junior World Championships	Jeju, South Korea[16]
2005	August 1 – 8	8th Finswimming Junior World Championships	Ostrowiec, Poland[17]
2006	July 24 – August 2	9th Finswimming Junior World Championships	Moscow, Russia[18]
2008	July 2 – 12	10th Finswimming Junior World Championships	Neiva, Colombia[19]
2010	July 5 – 12	11th Finswimming Junior World Championships	Palma de Mallorca, Spain[20]	200	23 nations
2012	July 16 – 22	12th Finswimming Junior World Championships	Graz, Austria[21]
2014	June 25 – July 1	13th Finswimming Junior World Championships	Chania, Greece[22]	198	24 nations

References

External links

• CMAS Finswimming Championship Archive