Announcement of Selection Criteria - 2025 International Competitions
Prior to Christmas, Swimming NZ published the final NZ team selection criteria for 2025. There are five international competitions that have been targeted for this year, with selection criteria released for each of these that align with the direction for the start of the new Games cycle toward Los Angeles in 2028.
With very near misses for medals at both the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, Swimming NZ’s Strategy Lead – High Performance, Graeme Maw, believes the selection criteria paves the way for further progress.
“We are unequivocally committed to achieve podium success in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Whilst we have reduced investment for the High Performance Pathways, this emphasises the importance of effective performance processes, and the expertise we have available through collaboration in our coaching and support networks. We have been presented with a great opportunity to build towards success at the international pinnacle in Los Angeles.”
Maw is confident that the foundations set over the past couple of years are a great launching pad for the new cycle.
“All our aspirations aim to build on the successes we take from the last year, where we have reigning World Aquatics and World Para Swimming Champions, and the ground-breaking run of the women’s 4 x 200m freestyle relay to the Olympic Games final!”
For our targeted international competitions in 2025, there are consistently high selection standards to build on momentum at all levels of the pathways. Maw believes these serve our programmes and athletes well for success.
“We really value the commitments our athletes, coaches and support teams make to compete on the international stage, and therefore expect the rewards to be that our Aquablacks, Junior Aquablacks and the like all progress towards finals at respective international championships. I am, therefore, genuinely excited about specific opportunities targeted in the 2025 Selection Criteria.”
We have provided a brief overview of the specific tweaks for selection criteria in 2025:
We have tweaked relay criteria for the World Aquatics Championships to recognise the gains swimmers can make when racing for each other (e.g. the women’s medley team with their national record in Budapest)
We have opened a window for distance freestylers with a 1500m qualification for the new 3km Knock Out at Open Water component of the World Aquatics Championships
We have set a bar to recognise World University Games as a launch pad to World Aquatics “A” standards within 12 months
We have potential for returning finalists at Junior World Championships.
NZ Teams Available for 2025
2025 World Aquatics Championships
Location: Singapore
Dates: 15 – 20 July (Open Water), 27 July – 3 August (Pool)
2025 World University Games
Location: Berlin, Germany
Dates: 17 – 23 July
2025 World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships
Location: Otopeni, Romania
Dates: 19 – 24 August
2025 Virtus World Swimming Championships
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Dates: 20 – 30 August
2025 World Para Swimming Championships
Location: Singapore
Dates: 21 – 27 September
Latest Updates on Programmes
For the Paralympic Programme, the LA Pathway has already been communicated and will kick off with the camp in Christchurch in February, led by Head Coach Simon Mayne.
For the Olympic Programme, new Head Coach Graham Hill is planning a series of short camps during the year to galvanise the LA pathway. These will be based around our collective relay potential from juniors to Aquablacks, the first of these will be in February.
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