Swimmimg World names top master swimmers for 2006 they are:

Allen: There are no FINA 2006 World Rankings when the information in early January gets submitted for the magazine in April. Right now, as of today there are NO 2006 FINA World Rankings for Masters Swimmers from around the World. So the best indicator of performances is the setting of FINA World Records that have been done defined by the critera by Swimming World. The critera is that it must be set in a Masters Meet and not other meets. Many years ago there were swimmers in the Top Ten and they set many USMS Records but because they did not set there records in masters meets, there swims were ignored by FINA and were not included for consideration. Since I was a member of the panel, its very time consuming to get all of the swimmers on the ballot for consideration. If Swimming World were to wait until 2006 FINA World Rankings were released, the top masters swimmers in the World for 2006 would not make the magazine until August 2007 at the earliest. Most, if not all of the swimmers on the ballot this year that set FINA World Records attended and won an individual event at the FINA World Championships at Stanford. I will challenge you to find me one swimmer that we missed that was ranked Number 1 in more events that the swimmers that were selected this year that set World Records. Since I have been a member of the panel for the last 2 years I went back and checked every swimmer that was given the award in there age group and I could not find one swimmer that had more Number 1 rankings than the swimmers named. Remember all of the swimmers that you read in the magazine are not all of the swimmers that are nominated and taken into consideration. One more point to consider is that when Swimming World names the World Swimmers of the Year for Swimming, the main critera is the setting and progression of World Records set during the year by a swimmer. The last 2 years Leisel Jones has won for the women and its because of the number and quality of World Records and not individual rankings. Last year Michael Phelps and Brenden Hansen were the main candidates for the men and the selection was real close and it came down to the vote of the progression and quality of the World Records set by each swimmer during the year.

Allen: There are no FINA 2006 World Rankings when the information in early January gets submitted for the magazine in April. Right now, as of today there are NO 2006 FINA World Rankings for Masters Swimmers from around the World. So the best indicator of performances is the setting of FINA World Records that have been done defined by the critera by Swimming World. The critera is that it must be set in a Masters Meet and not other meets. Many years ago there were swimmers in the Top Ten and they set many USMS Records but because they did not set there records in masters meets, there swims were ignored by FINA and were not included for consideration. Since I was a member of the panel, its very time consuming to get all of the swimmers on the ballot for consideration. If Swimming World were to wait until 2006 FINA World Rankings were released, the top masters swimmers in the World for 2006 would not make the magazine until August 2007 at the earliest. Most, if not all of the swimmers on the ballot this year that set FINA World Records attended and won an individual event at the FINA World Championships at Stanford. I will challenge you to find me one swimmer that we missed that was ranked Number 1 in more events that the swimmers that were selected this year that set World Records. Since I have been a member of the panel for the last 2 years I went back and checked every swimmer that was given the award in there age group and I could not find one swimmer that had more Number 1 rankings than the swimmers named. Remember all of the swimmers that you read in the magazine are not all of the swimmers that are nominated and taken into consideration. One more point to consider is that when Swimming World names the World Swimmers of the Year for Swimming, the main critera is the setting and progression of World Records set during the year by a swimmer. The last 2 years Leisel Jones has won for the women and its because of the number and quality of World Records and not individual rankings. Last year Michael Phelps and Brenden Hansen were the main candidates for the men and the selection was real close and it came down to the vote of the progression and quality of the World Records set by each swimmer during the year.