I attended an open water swim competition this past weekend and about 80% of the swimmers were wearing wrist watches. This meet was USMS sanctioned/recognized as all competitors had to be registered USMS members. None of the approximately 550 swimmers were disqualified for wearing wrist watches. I thought timing devices were not allowed but couldn't find wrist watches specifically mentioned in the open-water swimming rules. Could someone clarify this and/or point me in the right direction as to where this is addressed in the rules.
Originally posted by sibleyclan
Part 7 of the USA-S rulebook (Open Water Swimming) opens with "USA Swimming Rules and Regulations apply to open water competition, unless specifically indicated otherwise in Part Seven". FINA's open water rules open with "All World Championships, World Cups, and FINA competitions shall be governed by the rules of FINA with the following exceptions and additions."
Most regulations are written with a paragraph up front that states applicability and scope of said rule.
The long distance section of the usms rules have no such paragraph. So we don't know if the usms long distance arules are in addition to or instead of the regular rules. My notion would be that they are in addition to.
Originally posted by sibleyclan
Part 7 of the USA-S rulebook (Open Water Swimming) opens with "USA Swimming Rules and Regulations apply to open water competition, unless specifically indicated otherwise in Part Seven". FINA's open water rules open with "All World Championships, World Cups, and FINA competitions shall be governed by the rules of FINA with the following exceptions and additions."
Most regulations are written with a paragraph up front that states applicability and scope of said rule.
The long distance section of the usms rules have no such paragraph. So we don't know if the usms long distance arules are in addition to or instead of the regular rules. My notion would be that they are in addition to.
