Brent Nowicki, the executive director of World Aquatics, has stated his intention to ensure that host cities are in place until the 2030 World Championships.
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Brent Nowicki, the executive director of World Aquatics, has stated his intention to ensure that host cities are in place until the 2030 World Championships. Nowicki also stated that he wanted the hosting rights for World Aquatics’ main events to be assigned for the next eight years in order to provide athletes with a consistent calendar and offer organizers more time to plan. The World Aquatics Championships will begin in Fukuoka, Japan, in 2023 before moving to Doha, Qatar, in 2024 and Kazan, Russia, in 2025.
The biennial event will be held in Budapest in 2027. The World Swimming Championships (25m) are also planned to be held in Budapest in 2024, following the six-day event held in Melbourne, Australia, this year. However, no additional hosts for the short-course competition have been announced. Nowicki emphasized that finding hosts was one of World Aquatics’ goals and disclosed that “new and fascinating towns that have opened their doors to us”.
“Getting that calendar set is a primary focus on this team,” Nowicki said to the insidethegames. “We are really hopeful that we can get our World Championship calendar set out for the next two Olympic cycles. I think we are pretty close to that. We need to do a better job at getting that calendar out early but it’s definitely not easy”, he added.
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With its signature events having to be moved, World Aquatics has had a chaotic year. In response to Fukuoka delaying the World Aquatics Championships until 2023 owing to COVID-19 limitations, Budapest stepped up to host the tournament. In addition, Melbourne came in at the last minute to host the 25-meter World Swimming Championships after Kazan lost its hosting rights as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“As much as it has been amazing to be here in Melbourne and amazing as it was to be in Budapest we can’t keep that pace up of organizing great events in four to six months. I want to be in the business of organizing great events in three years. I want to have my team start working with the Organizing Committee and be innovative with our partners to bring new markets to life. That can’t happen in six months but that can happen in two or three years of planning and preparation. I want our Organizing Committees to be well budgeted and feel confident that they are going into something that is well planned and I want them to be able to build campaigns. Whether it’s clean water initiative or learn to swim program, I want that to be part of our offering”, he told insidethegames.
