The fastest 3 heats will be swum first in each session, followed by the remaining heats.

Please note that during heats, all men’s event are swum back to back in the North Pool and all women’s events back to back in the South Pool. With the exception of the breaks included in the schedule.

As per the provisional programme of events, the 4x50m Medley Relay, 1500m Freestyle, 800mFreestyle, 400m Individual Medley and 400m Freestyle will be swum as Heat Declared Winners (HDW) across the Friday, Saturday and Sunday accordingly.

On the BUCS Short Course Swimming Webpage please refer to ‘Rejected Entries’ to see a list of rejected entries. Please check the ‘Entries for Checking’ document to ensure your entry time is correct. Changes to times will incur a £10 admin charge. Athletic Unions should email changes to Olivia Hellas

Substitutions

Please note you will only be able to request substitute swimmers for other swimmers who become unable to swim their event(s) after the closing date if they are a named swimmer from your accepted submitted entries. Substitutions are only accepted until Friday 12 November 2021, after which only medical substitutions are permitted if accompanied by a medical note.

800m and 1500m – Reserve List: Swimmers can be called up from the reserve list for these events up until 5pm on Wednesday 17 November. Where possible, BUCS will contact the Athletic Union to advise if swimmers have been moved up from the reserve list.

Once a swimmer is entered via BUCS Play and is accepted, it is assumed they are swimming unless a team representative officially withdraws them.

You must withdraw any swimmers not participating ASAP. To officially withdraw swimmers prior to the event a withdrawal form must be completed and emailed to Olivia Hellas by 17:00 on Wednesday 17 November 2021 by your Athletic Union. Withdrawals after this can only be made from 15:00 on Friday 19 November 2021 at the event, in person at the BUCS Help Desk or by phoning 07590722061. Withdrawal forms can be downloaded from the BUCS website.

Withdrawal deadlines are as follows:

17:00 Friday – Withdrawal Deadline 1 – Sessions 1,2 and 3 (Friday and Saturday)

17:00 Saturday – Withdrawal Deadline 2 – Session 5 (Sunday)

Withdrawals from Finals: Within 30 minutes after the published results from the relevant event.

Competitors failing to withdraw officially from an event will be liable to a fine:

No Show - Heat: £15 

No Show - Final: £20

Late Withdrawal - Heat: £10

Late Withdrawal - Heat: £15

Any payments not made at the event will be subject to a £5 increase, and will be billed to the institution post event.

Other Fines:

Inappropriate Behaviour: £30 (Increased to £40 post event)

Failure to finish inside the qualifying time*: £10 (Increased to £15 post event)

*This may be increased at the discretion of the Tournament Director depending on the severity of the offence and whether proof of achieving the qualifying time in the previous 12 months can be supplied. 

Please note you will only be able to request substitute swimmers for other swimmers who become unable to swim their event(s) after the closing date if they are a named swimmer from your accepted submitted entries. Substitutions are only accepted until Friday 8 November 2019, after which only medical substitutions are permitted if accompanied by a medical note.

Those students listed as your relay team(s) on BUCS Play at the point of entry are not your declared team, but if you wish to use any other swimmer at the Championships they MUST have been entered in another event in the competition on BUCS Play.

Institutions will be provided the relevant number and types of relay declaration forms for the teams they have entered in the Championships. Once completed, relay declaration forms must be handed in to the staff on the BUCS Help Desk in the Swim England Office and the staff member who receives the form will sign, date, tear-off and return to the team representative a receipt slip of their submission.

Relay declaration forms for heats are required to be submitted at least 1 hour before the beginning of the respective session. In a change to the previous procedures, these declarations will then be automatically carried forward for the finals if a team progresses.

However, if for any reason after the heats you wish to change your declaration having progressed to either the A or B finals you must go to the BUCS Help Desk and request and submit a new declaration form at least 2 hours before the beginning of the respective finals session. If a new form is not submitted on time for the finals then the same team and order as the heats must be maintained.

The relay finals do not have to be made up of swimmers who swam in the relay heats. However, please note that no movement is permitted between A, B, C etc. relay teams – each set of swimmers must remain in their respective relay team for heats and finals, i.e if you swim in the A team for the heats you cannot swim in the B team for the finals and vice versa.

Teams failing to correctly submit a form will not be permitted to participate and teams failing to submit a form detailing the correct order of swimmers will be disqualified from the event.

Please note the following entry times that swimmers are required to have achieved for the distance freestyle events.

Women's 800m Freestyle – 10Min 30Sec 00Ms

Men’s 800m Freestyle – 09Min 45sec 00Ms

Men's 1500m Freestyle – 18Min 30Sec 00Ms

Women’s 1500m Freestyle – 19Min 30Sec 00Ms

Women’s 400m Freestyle – 06Min 00Sec 00Ms

Men’s 400m Freestyle – 05Min 30Sec 00Ms

Please note the following entry times that swimmers are required to have achieved for the distance freestyle events.

Women's 800m Freestyle – 10Min 30Sec 00Ms

Men’s 800m Freestyle – 09Min 45sec 00Ms

Men's 1500m Freestyle – 18Min 30Sec 00Ms

Women’s 1500m Freestyle – 19Min 30Sec 00Ms

Women’s 400m Freestyle – 06Min 00Sec 00Ms

Men’s 400m Freestyle – 05Min 30Sec 00Ms

Please note that your entry time submitted for events with a qualification standard must have been achieved in a competitive environment in the 36 months prior to the competition and may be verified against British Swimming/World Para Swimming Rankings. You may also be asked to verify your time on request prior to or at the event. Failure to prove your entry time may mean that you are not able to participate in the event.

Entries by swimmers (including para swimmers) with times outside of these times are automatically rejected at the closing of entries.

WARNING – Any swimmer finishing excessively outside the above times will be asked to prove their entry time legitimacy and if this cannot be proven then these individuals may face a fine or disciplinary action.

Each institution must collect a ‘Team Pack’ from the BUCS Help Desk by 16:15 on Friday 19 November 2021.

A representative from each institution must attend the Technical Briefing at 16:15 on Friday 19 November 2021 in the Diving Officials Room. This representative will need to ensure they have collected their ‘Team Pack’ prior to the briefing, which includes copies of the Relay Declaration Forms (where applicable) and Heats Withdrawal Forms for their institution.

Please note times highlighted on the schedule are the start times of each session, there will also be warm up time allocated prior to each session. Please see the event schedule for timings of warm ups. Swimmers will be split by gender, with men in one pool and women in the other pool. A designated lane in the diving pit will also be allocated for para-swimmers.

No fins or paddles are permitted in the warm up pool.

NB: Warm up protocol is subject to change at short notice, please listen to in house announcements.

The Top 10 swimmers/teams will advance to A finals following the heats and where there are B finals these will be made up of swimmers/teams ranked 11-20 from the heats.

The Top 3 swimmers of each event will receive medals.

BUCS points will be awarded to the top 4 swimmers/teams for eligible events, however, please note that only the top 2 swimmers from each institution, or 1 team per institution for relay events, will be eligible for BUCS points. Therefore, if there are not enough eligible swimmers/teams in the top 4 to earn the points, then the remaining points will be awarded to the next best eligible swimmers/teams based on the rest of the A Final results, and/or the B Final results and/or the heat results as required.

In the case of HDW events (4x50 Medley Relay, 400m Individual Medley, 400m Freestyle, 800m Freestyle, 1500m Freestyle), institutions can have more than 2 swimmers entered, but would not be able to achieve more than 2 sets of BUCS Points, and only 1 set of Swimming Event Points.

All finalists (including reserves) are expected to either report for their finals or withdraw from the event if they do not wish to participate.

Reserve finalists: Only 2 reserves per final will be called up should there be withdrawals. Where any reserves are called up a reasonable effort will be made to announce this and notify the swimmer(s), but swimmers are encouraged to check at the BUCS Help Desk. All reserve finalists should report to the Finals Marshall at the end of the final session warm up who will advise if they are required to swim or stand them down.

Final fines: If there is an empty lane due to the no-show of a finalist who has not withdrawn then the non-showing finalists will be fined. If a reserve fails to report and has not withdrawn and is required to swim (resulting in an empty lane) then the reserve swimmer will be fined.

BUCS medals will be awarded to the first 3 individuals/teams in each event. Trophies will be awarded to the Top Overall Institution (calculated using Swimming events points), Top Men’s and Women’s Teams (calculated using Swimming events points), the Top Male and Female Performances (calculated using FINA points) and the Top Male and Female para-swimming performances (calculated using British Para-Swimming points).

Medal Ceremonies will take place immediately after the conclusion of Session 4 for all finals in Session 4 and any HDW events from Sessions 1,2 & 3. Presentations on Sunday will take place immediately after Session 6.

Para swimming presentations and Deaf Swimming presentations will take place after the conclusion of Session 3 and 5.

All medal and award winners are expected to be wearing clothing/team kit when receiving awards (minimum of shorts and t-shirts).

Please arrive in plenty of time for your medal ceremony.

In each event, only the fastest individual from each institution will score points. For example, where there is more than one A finalist from the same institution only the highest ranking will score points. The subsequent point scoring will then be determined by the rankings in the B final and/or heats as applicable until swimmers from 10 different institutions have received points. Individual events will be scored by 1^st place being awarded 10 points, 2^nd place 9 points, continuing with a decreasing points scale for subsequent ranked placings in the order of 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point(s). Relay teams will score double points and only the teams in the A final shall score points, except in the case of a disqualification or no-show in which case the subsequent point scoring will then be determined by the rankings in the B final and/or heats as applicable.

The following list (in line with events currently being swum in Great Britain for Para-Swimmers) are recognised events for para-swimmers, as such, eligible entrants in these events can (subject to competitor numbers) earn BUCS Points, BUCS Medals and Swimming Event Points, as part of multi-classification extracted results using British Para-Swimming Points.

Deaf Swimmers (S15)

Deaf swimmers will not be eligible for Swimming Event Points due to the number of S15 swimmers competing. Deaf Swimmers will not be awarded BUCS Points and Medals as the minimum number of competitors has not been met.

If you have any specific requirements for competing, E.g., Strobe Lights, use of ‘tappers’ etc. please advise Olivia

Any para-swimmers requiring the use of tapping devices, blackened goggles or starting devices MUST have these signed off at the Technical Briefing at 4:15pm on Friday 19 November 2021, for them to be used during the Championships

Scoring for Para-Swimmers

Swimmers in each recognised event listed above shall have their results ranked based on a multi-classification basis using British Para-swimming Points. The following rules shall apply:

1. There needs to be 2 or more eligible swimmers that participate in a specific event to constitute a race and for BUCS Points, BUCS Medals or Swimming Event Points to be awarded. The 2 or more swimmers participating do NOT need to be of the same classification.
2. To be eligible you need to have a confirmed classification for para-swimmers and be in recognised event (as listed above)
3. To win BUCS Points, a BUCS Medal or Swimming Event Points for your institution you must have beaten a swimmer who also has an eligible classification for that recognised event. For example, if only an S4 and an S7 enter the 50m Backstroke, no points or medals can be awarded. If an S4, an S8 an S9 and an S11 enter the 400m Freestyle, points and medals will be awarded for 1^st and 2^nd place only as the S4 is ineligible for that discipline.
4. In each event, only the fastest para-swimmer from each institution can score Swimming Event Points. Additionally, only up to the fastest 2 para-swimmers from the same institution in each event can win a BUCS Medal or BUCS Points. E.g., if 3 para-swimmers from the same institution finished 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd, only the top 2 would receive BUCS Medals and Points. Points and medals will be awarded regardless of whether a non-disabled athlete from the same institution is awarded in the equivalent event.

For BUCS Points awarded to para-athletes please see Appendix 1

BUCS will require proof of classification status from the individual. Swimmers MUST bring evidence with them to the Championships and present it to the Lead Referee if requested. Swimmers can download and print the required information from the:

Swim England/Swim Wales Membership Check

Scottish Swimming (SASA) Membership Check

World Para Swimming Rules and Regulations

This Short Course event is World Para Swimming approved. However, in line with World Para Swimming Rules and Regulations (Regulation 10.17) any World Record swims will not be recognised at BUCS Short Course Swimming Championships.

It has been noted that in previous years teams have experienced difficulties in travelling to Sheffield due to heavy pre-weekend traffic on the roads. Please ensure that your team leaves plenty of time to travel to the venue. If you are delayed please contact us to arrange any relay declarations and/or withdrawals by phoning Olivia on 07590722061

Speedo

BUCS were thrilled to partner with Speedo in 2019 as the headline partner of the BUCS Swimming Programme - rebranding the programme as the Speedo and BUCS Swimming Series. Speedo & BUCS are thrilled to reignite this partnership once again after last years series was cancelled due to Covid. The global and iconic swimming brand will be present at all events in the series across the next three years offering some fantastic prizes, activations, and the latest bespoke event merchandise.

At the Speedo and BUCS Short Course Swimming Championships 2021, Speedo will be giving away spot prizes across the weekend including free event t shirts, Powerbanks, Towels, Bags and the latest Fastskin Goggles.

Speedo will also be selling official bespoke merchandise. Get yourself some memorabilia from the event from the Speedo shop on site and sign up to our teamwear platform for your chance to win a £250 voucher so spend on Speedo.com.

Photographers, videographers and press are not able to attend Speedo & BUCS Short Course Swimming Championships 2021 due to COVID restrictions at Ponds Forge and there being a capacity in place.