2024 USMS Spring National Championship and Olympic Trials Ticket Announcement

Not going to lie, this decision makes zero sense to me.  Most of this "spring" nationals will actually take place in the summer.  If they were trying to piggy back off Olympic Trials, why not do it like they did in 2012.  Even if you couldn't host it in the actual OT pool, late June is the middle of Long Course season.  Is USMS planning to run another Nationals 6 weeks later?  Or are they going to try and shoehorn a meet into October?  This just seems overly gimmicky and messes with the normal schedule for USMS and swimming in the USA in general.  It doesn't feel like some sort of precident was set with the 2021 Nationals.  Those were all whacky due to COVID (and rightly so).  I know for me personally I won't be switching gears to travel to a SCY meet in the middle of LCM season, and wouldn't attend a LCM championship if it was pushed to October.

Not going to lie, this decision makes zero sense to me.  Most of this "spring" nationals will actually take place in the summer.  If they were trying to piggy back off Olympic Trials, why not do it like they did in 2012.  Even if you couldn't host it in the actual OT pool, late June is the middle of Long Course season.  Is USMS planning to run another Nationals 6 weeks later?  Or are they going to try and shoehorn a meet into October?  This just seems overly gimmicky and messes with the normal schedule for USMS and swimming in the USA in general.  It doesn't feel like some sort of precident was set with the 2021 Nationals.  Those were all whacky due to COVID (and rightly so).  I know for me personally I won't be switching gears to travel to a SCY meet in the middle of LCM season, and wouldn't attend a LCM championship if it was pushed to October.

When I first read it I thought it was going to be done like in 2012. I was pretty excited about that. This does seem like a gimmick and it’s going to make it very complicated to try and swim fast at nationals and then turn around and swim fast again at another nationals six weeks later. I age up to 75 in 2024 so it is a very important year for me. 

Calvin S and Allen Stark  Thanks for your feedback. We considered many options for this event. The 2012 Omaha format (Nationals a week later in the Trials pool) was not viable due to date conflicts with the venue and the cost would've been enormous. There's a big difference between an arena in Omaha and an NFL stadium.

This unique opportunity to race at USMS Nationals during the day and watch Olympians qualify for Team USA at night was only possible since Indy has another premier swimming venue with IU Natatorium about a mile away from Lucas Oil Stadium where Trials will be held.

We are currently evaluating date/location options for 2024 USMS Summer Nationals. Most likely it will be in late August (so 8+ weeks after Spring Nationals). 

Stay tuned for more details. We hope to see you at one or both 2024 Nationals!

Thank you, that is good to hear. 

i guess its a matter of perspective. i turn 75 during the meet so i am very excited for this opportunity to swim a yard meet as soon as as i age up !

Oh for sure.  Not trying to rally people to my side or convince USMS to change course. Some people will love a SCY meet in June and a chance to rub shoulders with olympians.  Me personally, not my cup of tea (mainly the SCY meet in late June and another nationals 8 weeks later).  I’ll probably take a flyer on national level meets in 2024 and just swim local :)

Thanks, Calvin S. FWIW, in 2012 both Spring (Greensboro, 1,864 swimmers) and Summer (Omaha, 1,257 swimmers) Nationals were well attended and only 10 weeks apart. 

We understand this will not suit everyone's schedule, but having IU Natatorium nearby and capable of hosting even our largest Nationals (2,378 swimmers at 2018 Spring Nationals), this made it possible to combine the marquee USMS event with Olympic Trials.

word.  I think if I was wishing for anything, it would have been that USMS just make the Indiannapolis Nationals LCM and have it just be early, rather than conducting a SCY meet in the middle of LCM season.

We considered that option as well. Either way Spring/Summer Nationals would be ~2 months apart (April/June or June/August), but since IU Natatorium can accommodate 2,000+ swimmers we wanted to give as many USMS members as possible the opportunity to take advantage of what promises to be a very memorable experience. Again, thanks for your feedback.