World Aquatics canceled the Transgender category after no entries were received for the Swimming World Cup
The World Aquatics has canceled the category for transgender athletes for the 2023 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup after receiving no entries.
After banning transgender women from competing in the women's category in June 2022, World Aquatics introduced a new category for the first time as 'open races' for trans athletes to maintain fair play and equal opportunity.
The 2023 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup is scheduled to begin on October 6, 2023, with its first meeting in Berlin, Germany. World Aquatics introduced the 'pioneering pilot project' under which the 50m and the 100m races of all events were to be held for the open category.
However, transgender women have dissented from competing in the open category, showing their disagreement.
Last year, World Aquatics announced a decision that only permitted those 'female' athletes who have completed their transition before turning 12 and whose testosterone levels were under a certain limit to compete in the women's category.
The decision was taken after observing Lia Thomas' success at the NCAA championships. Thomas had been an average male swimmer in college but went on to win the 500-yard freestyle at the NCAA championships in Atlanta for the University of Pennsylvania in the women's category after the transition.
World Aquatics is the first federation recognized by the International Olympic Committee, which attempted to introduce a third category.B
Beyond the Trans category being canceled, here are the athletes to watch at the 2023 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup
The 2023 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup is set to be held at three different venues including Berlin, Greece and Hungary, with a total span of nine days.
The first meet in Berlin will witness a few interesting lineups. Kaylee McKeown will compete at all three halts of the World Cup. She will be accompanied by world champion gold medalist Lani Pallister in the Australian squad. The 25-year-old Beata Nelson from the USA will compete against McKeown.
The 20-year-old Olympic medalist Torri Huske will compete in multiple events including the 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle, and 50m and 100m butterfly and 200m individual medley.
Nic Fink will compete in the breaststroke events against Nicolo Martinenghi, Arno Kamminga and Qin Haiyang. Additionally, he will compete against Dylan Carter. High school athletes including Katie Grimes and Claire Weinstein along with other swimmers, including Sean Grieshop and Michael Andrew, will also compete in the first leg of the 2023 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup.
The details of Meet 1 of the 2023 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup can be found here and the prize money received by the athletes in the top positions in a single meeting as well as in the whole tournament can be found here.