Tinkering With Pro Swim Series Should Pay Off For USA Swimming
USA Swimming is reimagining its annual circuit of Pro Swim Series meets for 2026, introducing four-day formats and semifinals. The goal is to “mirror the racing environment athletes experience at major international meets and enhance long-course racing opportunities throughout the season.” And given the struggles of U.S. national teams at high-stakes competitions in recent years, these changes come at an ideal time.
In events 200 meters and shorter, semifinals will be introduced at select meets, rotating among the four stops in Austin, Westmont, Sacramento and Indianapolis. Swimmers in 50-meter events plus the 200 IM will contest three rounds in Austin, before the 100s of stroke add an extra swim in Westmont and the 200s in Sacramento. Previously, the only domestic meet with any semifinal round has been the Olympic Trials, held only once every four years.
Additionally, distance events will be held as prelims-finals for one meet each during the season. This is another scarcely-practiced format, with even non-Olympic selection meets only asking swimmers to race the 800 and 1500 free once each.
These Pro Series meets will feature increased prize money whenever the extra round is included; the 400 freestyle and 400 IM will be among the marquee, big-money events at the last stop, but those races are contested at prelims-finals all levels, so the format will not change.
Will these changes help prepare American swimmers for the demands of major competition? Possibly, especially if the raised financial stakes appeal to athletes who might otherwise skip out or encourage foreign swimmers to make the trip stateside for the meet featuring an extra round of their main event.
American swimmers cannot cruise through semifinals at championship meets, a reality underscored all too often during the Paris Olympics and Singapore World Championships, so reproducing those challenges throughout the season should be a long-term benefit. The Pan Pacific Championships, the main meet for U.S. swimmers in 2026, typically excludes semifinals altogether, making the Pro Series the only chance for Americans to race an event three times in one meet all season.
The Pro Series meets will also maintain the recent tradition of using different event orders from meet to meet. This quirk presents swimmers who race all four stops with changing race conditions and will force them to adapt to different levels of fatigue. That is the right approach for any meet unable to exactly match the format of an Olympics or World Championships. Fans should also appreciate the variation after a World Cup circuit where each meet was nearly identical week to week.
These changes are not exactly groundbreaking but a solid first move for Greg Meehan, USA Swimming’s new leader of the National Team Division. Meehan guided the team through the World Championships while following plans outlined before his arrival (and while dealing with severe illness throughout the team), so this is his first real chance to make an impression. It’s why Meehan was hired, to examine and alter anything that could reverse recent trends of international disappointments.
