Radical plan for back-toback titles

A RADICAL proposal to hold the next FINA world championships immediately after next year’s rescheduled Tokyo Games threatens to derail the plans of some of Australia’s top aquatic stars.

While an official announcement is not expected until next month, News Corp understands the world governing body for traditional swimming, open water swimming, water polo, diving and synchronised swimming, is hatching plans to hold its 2021 world championships in the back half of August, just a week after the Tokyo Olympics end.

The championships are currently locked in for July next year at Fukuoka, but a change of dates is needed to avoid clashing with the hastily rearranged Tokyo Olympics, which will now take place in the last week of July and first week of August, 2021.

World athletics faces the same problem and has already flagged its intention to switch its main event to 2022 but FINA – whose leaders have often been accused of putting money ahead of the wishes of competitors – is determined to go ahead next year.

Highly placed sources have told the Bulletin that FINA has ruled out holding the world titles before the Olympics because that’s when most countries will be conducting their trials, so is preparing to delay them for a month and start in mid August.

Many are already planning to retire once the Olympic flame is extinguished while everyone will definitely be wanting to let their hair down and take a well deserved break after a gut-busting build-up that will have already been extended by a year.

Instead, they could have to go straight from the Games medal podium back into hard training.