Time Standards

2024-2025 Swim Ontario Standards

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Swim Ontario has the right to amend these documents as required

Olympic Program Age Group Standards

🆕 Para Swimming Standards

Ontario Junior International Standards

October 29 update

Swim Ontario has developed the Para Swimming Regional Motivation and Invitational Recommended standards for regions and clubs to use to ensure para swimmers are equitably included in both Regional Championship and club invitational competitions. These standards are equitable developmental stepping stones to assist para swimmers to move along the para development pathway in a similar manner as Olympic stream athletes. While regions and clubs are welcome to develop their own Regional Championship and Invitational para swimmer standards, Swim Ontario recognizes that the development of equitable standards for para swimmers can be time consuming so has developed these standards to assist regions and clubs as we all move towards being "best in class".

October 17 update

Consideration Times/Regional Recommendation Times

Provincial Consideration Times:

Swimmers will be required to achieve a 2024/2025 Consideration time in order to enter and compete in bonus events at the Ontario Swimming Championships and Ontario Age Groups (subject to the bonus structure for the competition).

These times were developed using the Ontario Swimming Championships qualifying times for each group plus adding five(5) percent. For those familiar with the previous A,B,C,D, E provincial times, these consideration times are in alignment with the metric used to the develop the “B” time.

Regional Recommendation Times:

At the request of our regional partners, we are pleased to provide the 2024/2025 Regional Recommendation times. These times were developed using the OSC times plus 7.5%. These calculations are in alignment with what was used to develop the provincial “C & D” times in the past.

Staff feel that these times allow for progressive performance alignment towards the Provincial qualifying standards. It is hoped that regions would consider using them to set standards for their championship opportunities but understand if it is decided to use another metric for qualification.


Swim Ontario has completed the process of developing the performance standards for the new competition deliverables for the 2024/2025 season. Below you will find a breakdown of the standards along with a basic rationale behind how these times were determined.

We have taken a tiered approach to developing these times with the Ontario Age Group focused on an “in-season” check point that is a step below the Ontario Swimming Championships in the summer. Taking this progressive approach should allow for clubs to build their season plans towards swimming their fastest near or at the end of the season rather than in the middle of the season. For this to happen clubs and coaches need to be allowed to build and implement appropriate training blocks that allow their swimmers to build the technical and tactical skill sets to maximize their performance development.

While some of these motivational standards may seem more challenging for certain levels of swimmers, they align with a key performance pathway that is focused on national achievement and international representation.

Below you will see a breakdown of how the standards were devised and developed.

ONTARIO SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

  • Times were set based on the final provincial rankings for the 2023/2024 season as a baseline of appropriate performance identification. Using these rankings as a baseline helped to create a progressive performance expectation across the age categories for each event. Using these rankings gave us the largest catchment of swimmers to consider in each event and age group.
  • As well as considering the performance level for each age group and event, the format of the meet, the timelines required to run the new format and quality of competition were also considered.
  • RANKING CONSIDERATIONS
    • 13 and Unders: 40th ranked performance from the 2023/2024 season
      • Swim Ontario viewed this age bracket as a new standard, rather than a version of the previous Festival standard.
    • 14-16 Year Olds: 30th ranked performance for the 2023/2024 season.
      • Changes to these standards looked to address event qualification deficits that became clear over the past two provincial competition cycles.
    • 17 year olds and 18 and Overs: 24th ranked performance for the 2023/2024 season.
      • Management of this age group became important for the performance along the national and international tracks.
  • OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
    • Events where the standard was slower than the previous age group was adjusted to be 1% to continue the expectations towards performance progression.
    • To ensure that event standards progressed from the younger ages through the older blocks, times were adjusted using the ranking places as a baseline and adjusting as needed.
  • QUALIFICATION
    • Individual swimmers must achieve two (2) qualifying standards to attend the competition.
    • Swimmers must also meet the event consideration times of OSC + 5% to be eligible to enter a bonus event.
    • These steps were taken to focus swimmers on multi-event development as well as managing the scope of the competition.

ONTARIO AGE GROUPS

  • TIME STANDARDS:
    • Standards were developed using the Ontario Swimming Championships times as the baseline.
    • Ontario Swimming Championships (OSC) + 2.5%.
    • The new standard allowed for a slight step up from the historic OYJ & Festivals standards
    • Individual events were also monitored to ensure a clear pathway
  • QUALIFICATION
    • Individual swimmers must achieve one (1) qualifying standard to attend the competition.
    • Swimmers must also meet the event consideration time of OSC standard + 5% to be eligible to enter a bonus event.
    • These steps were taken to focus swimmers on multi-event development as well as managing the scope of the competition..

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