DOHA (Qatar): Qatar Swimming Association (QSA) received an official letter from International Swimming Federation (FINA) to cancel the Swimming World Cup for the current year 2020, in order to ensure the safety of athletes in light of the emerging COVID-19 pandemic.
Doha was scheduled to host the 4th round of the tournament in October 2021.
Swimming World Cup 2021 will be composed of six legs. The first and second round of the 2021 season will be contested in Singapore (SGP) and Jinan (CHN) in September.
The circuit will then move to the third and fourth round as Berlin (GER) and Budapest (HUN) step in to stage the event from October 1-3 and October 7-9 respectively.
The fifth round will be staged in Doha (QAT) from October 21-23 and finally in Kazan (RUS) from October 28-30.
All the stops of the 2021 World Cup will be competed in 25m-pool and are qualifying events for the postponed FINA World Swimming Championships 25m to be in December, 2021.
FINA had recently decided to cancel the 2020 Swimming World Cup competitions in order to ensure the safety of athletes in light of the emerging Coronavirus (COVID-19), as Doha was scheduled to host the fourth round in next October.
It is noteworthy that Doha has hosted one of the rounds of the Swimming World Cup annually since 2012. It also hosted the 12th World Swimming Championships in the short course, which was held in 2014 and witnessed 23 world records being broken, and this is the largest number ever recorded in the International Swimming Federation Short Distance Championships (25 m), provided that it also hosts the World’s Aquatics Championships scheduled for 2023.
