The Australian Swimming Trials have kicked off, marking the start of a crucial week for the nation’s top swimmers, who are trying to qualify for the Olympic and Paralympic team heading to Paris in a few weeks.
The trials, held at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre, will last six days and culminate in the official announcement of the Australian Olympic and Paralympic swimming team (coined ‘The Dolphins’).
How the Australian Swimming Trials work
For a swimmer to qualify for the Olympic team, they must finish in the top two spots in the final of their discipline. They must also meet the qualification time set by Swimming Australia for that event – meaning a swimmer could potentially finish second in their final, but be too slow for Swimming Australia’s benchmark and fail to qualify.
For the Paralympic team, swimmers must finish in the top three of their class and meet Swimming Australia’s qualification time.
Team announcements
The Paralympic team announcement will be at 9:24pm on Friday night, and the Olympic team announcement will be at 9:04pm on Saturday night.
The trials are being broadcast on the Nine Network and 9Now.
