Swimming’s governing body FINA confirmed yesterday Qatar will hold the World Championships in February 2024. The competition was originally scheduled for 2023 but then provisionally moved as Covid played havoc with the swimming calendar.
FINA announced that the Qatar championships will run from February 2-18 in Doha, ending 159 days before the start of the Paris Games on July 26. It will be the third world championships in 19 months.
The edition originally scheduled for Fukuoka, Japan, in 2021 but postponed because of the pandemic, will occupy Qatar’s original slot in the calendar in 2023, although it will run earlier in the year than usual, from May 13-29.
Since 2001, the world championships have been held in odd-numbered years, but FINA also added an extra edition in June and July this year in Budapest to bolster its finances.
Because the Tokyo Olympics were moved back a year to 2021, it means elite swimmers and divers will have five major championships in three years. Several leading swimmers, including Australian Olympic stars Ariarne Titmus and Emma McKeon, opted to skip Budapest.
In Doha, swimming, artistic swimming and water polo will take place in the Aspire Dome, with the venue transforming from the world’s largest indoor multi-sport arena into the largest indoor aquatics venue. The diving will be at the Hamad Aquatic Centre with the high diving and open water swimming competitions set to take place at the nearby Museum of Islamic Art.
Doha will host FINA’s flagship event for the very first time after successfully hosting multiple FINA events over recent years, including the 12th World Swimming Championships (25m) 2014, nine editions of the Swimming World Cup, four Marathon Swim World Series events and a Diving World Series event in 2009.
With 76 medal events taking place across the six FINA disciplines of swimming, artistic swimming, open water swimming, diving, high diving and water polo, Doha will provide an ideal setting for the world’s best aquatics competition.
It will also serve as a stop on the road to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, providing qualification opportunities for the swimming, artistic swimming, open water swimming, diving, and water polo disciplines.
“At FINA, we are committed to giving athletes additional opportunities to compete on the championship stage. Today’s announcement is a testament to this. We are extremely fortunate to have an event host in Doha that shares our passion for aquatics with the willingness and flexibility to organise this prestigious event to the benefit of aquatics athletes everywhere,” said FINA President Husain al-Musallam. “The city’s world-class facilities will ensure that the athletes can perform at the highest level, inspiring the next generation of aquatics fans.”