Entries for European Masters in London are open(EDIT:reopen)

there is a official statement from LEN and LOC: "LEN and the LOC have been absolutely overwhelmed by the simply unprecedented interest shown in swimming entries for the Arena European Masters Championships in London in May. Both LEN and the LOC appreciate the great appeal of the Championships with the London Aquatics Centre acting as the venue less than four years after its use during the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Three years have also nearly passed since the last European Masters Championships in Eindhoven and, while LEN and the LOC were aware demand for swimming entries would be extremely high, never before have so many entries been filled in such a short space of time. LEN and the LOC appreciate the lengths to which the masters community have gone to in order to be prepared for the Championships – booking flights and accommodation – and we please ask for your patience as we review the situation. Both LEN and the LOC are working hard to find a solution but want to take time to understand how it might be possible to make additional entries available in order to satisfy the overwhelming and simply unprecedented demand. LEN and the LOC are committed to delivering the best experience possible for athletes at the Championships and a solution to fulfill the extremely large demand will be communicated on Tuesday February 16." euroaquatics2016.london/.../

I know a lot of European swimmers that were too late. Plus lots of relays didn't make it. Crazy! It's a real mess. I think very few continental Europeans will have made it. Very few relay teams will have been entered. Is this the first time organised by LEN? Certainly the first time it is aligned with the elite event. What a nightmare.

It is totally insane. On the one side I am glad I could enter at the right time but what about the others who couldn't and have no chance now? I will swim and compete against the best in my age grope in europe!! This is a big shame for the masterwimming competition and it is agaist any sportspirit to make a championchips with the slogan "first come, first served" I think and hope this whole crap will make some noise in and around the swimmigworld.

I think it will at least spark some debate about what the championship is. The entry times have always been easy, and I think it is good to be inclusive, but when spaces are limited there has to be some kind of way of managing entries. First come, first served means those most connected to social media, to a large degree, because that's how word got round that entries were filling up fast. People are not happy because: They didn't get in and were building their season around it / wanted to challenge etc They got in but their team mates / relay team mates didn't so don't have relay teams They got in but the competition is devalued They didn't get in and had booked accommodation - only option was to book in advance of entries They didn't get in and had booked travel Basically, I think the only swimmers that are happy are the people that think the medal validates the performance, rather than the other way round, and are now in a better position then they would have been.

I am glad they are going to try to make it right.I hope they succeed. Simplest solution would be, once they decide on numbers, criteria etc, to cancel all entries and start again!

on the german masters-page www.dsv.de/.../ is a comment about the situation: "...The procedure to cut the number of entries to 14000 was a fair soulution, and what happens was unpredictable..." I still can't belive how bad the plan was to let the first 14000 entries in and everybody out who is too late. But NOW going to cancal all entries and make some new entrie-procedure would be poor imo. I mean how can you fix a situation who is just out of your mind? Everybody who is in right now and who would be out after a new procedure would never enter events like this anymore again. He would be pissed of for all time... Maybe you can cut the number of people in every event and every age group to 25 or 30 and let the 5 best people from 2015 in, so that everybody has a chance to swim against the fastes in water and not against the fastest on the internet. But to be honest, there is no wise soulution at the moment.

There is a rumor about the reopening of the entry page tomorrow. Not sure for how long this will be. There must be a new limit for the capacity also. Maybe there will be a 2nd swimming pool in London for a part of the competition. We will see...

Unless they might retain some kind of temporary facility that might be being used for the main championships, the only one fairly nearby would be Crystal Palace, and that's well past its best...

7pm and there is still nothing out there...quite interessting. From Twitter London 2016 ‏@Aquatics2016 1 hour ago (ie 1:30pm EST) LEN and LOC will issue a full update regarding swimming entries for European Masters Championships tomorrow morning

7pm and there is still nothing out there...quite interessting.