Frequently Asked Questions

This is not an exhaustive list, and there may well be other questions that you have, or you need clarification on issues connected to this qualifying process.

Please contact John Martin MBE, the ILS Event Director via e-mail on j.martin@ilsf.org if your question is not already included.

1. Question Asked:

If an athlete is one of the five athletes qualified in the three Team events, how does he/she get a qualification for the 50m Manikin Carry?

Answer:

If:

The athlete is part of the Nation’s team in the Relays.
his/her best time in the 50m Manikin Carry established at an appropriate event during the qualifying period is one of the top 8 times in the world
there is not more than 1 athlete from his/her nation above him in the list of 8 best times then he will qualify for that event. If there are 3 athletes from your nation in the top 8 best times for the 50m Manikin Carry, only the first 2 can be selected. It is expected most of the individual qualifiers will also be part of the relay team because they are generally (but not always) among the best athletes in the individual events also.

2. Question Asked:

If an athlete is not in the squad of five athletes for the National Team Relays, can he/she qualify as a sixth athlete from our nation for his individual events, provided he/she is only one of the two possible athletes in this event?

Answer:

If your athlete is in the top 8 times for any individual event, he/she will qualify for that event unless there are already 2 other athletes from your nation with better times than him that event. He/she may, or may not, be in your relay team of 5.

3. Question Asked:

If an athlete participates in more than one competition to achieve Qualification times, does ILS you need the times to be submitted for every event in which an athlete participates not later than 7 days after the competition?

Answer:

Yes, the intention is that the times are submitted as soon as possible and within 7 days of the qualification event taking place. ILS also recognises that if a good time is achieved and submitted say in April, but a faster time is achieved by the same athlete (or team) in November, then a further submission of the faster time will need to be made. All times submitted need to meet the minimum qualifying time.

4. Question Asked:

Can you confirm that there are no heats, only finals with the top 8 athletes per gender in each individual event?

Answer:

Yes, there will only be 8 athletes selected for each individual race, and only 8 teams selected for the relay races. They will be direct finals and no heats to ensure that we have the best race against the best, as required by the World Games. There are just 5 individual races and 3 team races per gender.

5. Question Asked:

Will there be medals for every team event or a combined medal for the three team events?

Answer:

Medals will be presented for each event.

6. Question Asked:

Is it possible to qualify for the relay events in four different competitions with the maximum number of 5 athletes? For instance, the same team may achieve their best times as follows:

4x50m Obstacle Relay at the Italian Championships

4x25m Manikin Relay at a competition in France

4x50m Medley Relay at the German Cup in Warendorf

Will you use the three times achieved at these different events?

Answer:

ILS is looking for the best times that your team achieves in an appropriate qualifying event. Therefore, if your team achieves a best time in the three events at three different competition it will not be a problem. Provided the same 5 people are used across the different events, their best times at any appropriate competition are counted. A team might get disqualified at one event in a competition, but they have the chance to get another time another qualifying event. When qualification was based solely on performance at the Lifesaving World Championships this was not possible.

7. Question Asked:

Qualification for Individual Events: What happens if, an athlete is qualified in an Event in the Top 8 Ranking (and top 2 in his nation) but does not want to race in this because of the World Games program?

For example, if Athlete A qualifies in the 50m Manikin Carry (his/her preferred event) and 100m Manikin Carry with Fins, but decides because of the program that he/she only wants to race in his/her preferred race, the 50m Manikin Carry, how will this be dealt with?

Answer:

If a selected athlete does not wish to participate in one of the events for which they are qualified, then ILS will look to select another suitable athlete in their place, based on the times submitted by all federations.

Once the selection is confirmed the athletes/federations will need to confirm that those selected will participate in the events for which they have been selected. Those athletes will then be notified to the World Games Association so that their accreditation can be prepared.

Once an athlete is selected and confirmed to the World Games Association by 31st March 2022, ILS will not look to make changes after that except in case of injury. If an athlete then withdraws from one event, they will have to be withdrawn from the whole competition.

8. Question Asked:

Qualification for Team Events: Can a national team submit times for more than one team?

Answer:

In team events, only one team per nation per gender can be selected. A nation can submit times for as many teams as you want, but the team that scores most highly across the three events is the one that will be selected.

9. Question Asked:

Qualification for Team Events: What is ILS doing with the Point Score? Will a points-blocking process be used if times are submitted from more than one team in a nation? If it is will ILS be removing the second team from the list?

Answer:

It is not intended that there is any point blocking when assessing the scores across the three events. This is still to be confirmed but the principle is still to get the 8 best teams across the team events as far as possible, on the basis that only 1 team per nation can be selected per gender.

10. Question Asked:

Qualification for Team Events: What happens if a Nation only need 4 athletes to achieve the qualification times? Can a Nation put in a fifth person?

Answer:

If a nation only needs the 4 same athletes to achieve the best times, then the nation can add a fifth when the team is selected for the event. A nation is not restricted to only taking 4 if your team is selected. A team to participate at the World Games consists of 5 athletes.

11. Question Asked:

For individual times a nation sees no big problems only maybe the amount of chances all athletes have. Will there be a list of times already swum during the year?

Answer:

It is intended that ILS will have an updated list as the times are submitted.

ILS hopes to work with Ruben van Erk, from the Netherlands who has produced the Still Water Ranking lists on the internet that we have linked to the ILS Website: https://www.lifesavingrankings.com/ He has offered to assist with this so that teams will know what the current best times are.

The Still Water Ranking lists only cover individual times at this point but it is intended to provide a list of leading team times across the three relay events.

12. Question Asked:

For team events can you confirm if the three events have to be swum at the same competition or can a team (if it consists of 5 identical team members) choose three different competitions to swim a fast time?
For example a womens team:

4x50 obstacles at German Cup in Warendorf. 1’53”45

4x25 manikin relay at Spanish Open 1’20”02

4x50 tube at national championships 1’43”45

For this matter does it have to be the same team composition at all these competitions?

Answer:

The times do not need to be obtained at the same competition. They could be achieved at three separate competitions that are suitable.

The times submitted for one team should have only up to 5 different names. So the team composition might be changed by one person for the second or third event, but no more than 5 competitors can be used for that team.

13. Question Asked:

Why is there a Team A and Team B listed on page 13 of the World Games Qualification Process?

Answer:

It is possible that a federation has two teams capable of qualifying and the selection of which team will depend on the total points across the three events that the team gains. For instance Team A might have the 1st, 4th and 7th best times across the three events, but Team B has the 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Team A would score 45 points, but Team B would score 46 and be the team to be selected for that nation.

14. Question Asked:

For example with teams composed as follows:

Athlete A-Athlete B-Athlete-C-Athlete D- Athlete E in Warendorf with times of 1’52”78-1’24”02-1’45”86

Athlete A-Athlete B-Athlete-C-Athlete F-Athlete G in the Spanish Open with times of 1’56”60-1’19”02-1’49”78

Athlete A-Athlete B-Athlete-C-Athlete E-Athlete F at our National Championships with times of 1’53”40-1’26”87-1’43”45

In this case it would be 7 different girls competing in 3 different competitions. Maybe one of the compositions has a better distribution of points and can qualify and the other teams have less chance on a medal but more chance on a qualification.

Answer:

For a team to be eligible they must only use a maximum of 5 competitors across the three different events. There can be more than one team but they would need to have up to 5 different competitors.

15. Question Asked:

Which team is taken in case if a tie in points? The sum of the total time?

Answer:

This is yet to be confirmed, but it could be the team that has the highest placed finish in one or more events that resolves a tie. However, the total aggregate time across the three events is another option. A decision will be made by the ILS Sport Commission as soon as possible.

16. Question Asked:

Is there a posibility to do an identity card check up at all competitions?

Answer:

This cannot be achieved – not all nations use an ID Card – this may apply in much of mainland Europe, but that is not the same around the world. ILS has to trust member federations that the individuals in their teams are who they say they are.

17. Question Asked:

Does the qualifying event have to be sanctioned by the ILS?

Answer:

Yes, it must be sanctioned by the ILS at least 28 days before the event is held.

If:

the event is normally sanctioned by the ILS use the same process as normal.
the event is being run solely for the purposes of running a time trial for your athletes, use the amended sanctioning form issued to all federations in November 2020