FINA Cancels 2021 Junior and Youth World Championships

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - FINA announced today that the organization is cancelling the 2021 Junior and Youth World Championships. This cancellation marks the second year the events will not take place. Despite the cancellation, USA Artistic Swimming is committed to providing an opportunity for young athletes to compete and our team is actively working to plan an event for these artistic swimmers to work towards.  

"While we join the rest of the artistic swimming community in disappointment, this cancellation is the reality that we are still faced with. These two groups of athletes have had minimal to no opportunities to compete over the last two seasons," USA Artistic Swimming's CEO Adam Andrasko said. "While we understand and respect the decision of the FINA Bureau members, it is because of the lack of opportunities for these athletes that USA Artistic Swimming is most disappointed."

Thanks to incredible work from the team in Clearwater, Fla. and the national office staff, USA Artistic Swimming was able to quickly pull a strong bid together after it became clear that Canada Artistic Swimming would be unable to host. Unfortunately, the international travel restrictions of COVID would not allow the United States to execute the FINA-sanctioned event as we hoped. However, the dates, hotels and venues have been secured and USAAS has begun to evaluate the possibility of hosting an international event that will allow these two groups of athletes to compete at the highest level.

"The team is working hard to pull this competition together and we will share an invitation and more details about the event next week. These athletes are the future of our sport and we are dedicated to doing what we can to nurture their passion and provide them a stage to showcase their skills," Adam said.