The BASE TIME PROXIMITY STANDARD is used to calculate the times and ranking of athletes to be selected for attendance at international off-island Flag Event competitions which limit the number of athletes that may be entered, such as the World Aquatics Championships.

The standard uses a mathematical formula sometimes called the “Highest Ratio” formula or the “Percentage Faster” or “Percentage of Time” Standard. Variations of the standard are used by World Aquatics and major swim federations as a way of establishing a uniform way to compare times and to rank athletes across different individual events. Regardless of which variation of the formula is used, the result is that a fair comparison can be made between differing athlete times and events.

The Base Time Proximity Standard compares the difference between an athlete’s best time in an individual event to the “B” time standard (ie, the “Base Time”) for that same event as established by a competition’s meet organizers. The formula divides the athlete’s time by the Base Time, and the quotient is converted to a percentage. The resulting percentage represents how much faster or slower the athlete’s time in an event is compared to the “B” time in that same event

The athletes are then ranked in order of their percentages with the highest ranking athlete being the one whose swim time is closest to the Base Time (or “1.000”).

The Base Time Proximity Standard does not apply to the Olympic Games or to open entry competitions which do not have a pre-established limit on the number of entries (e.g. the Micronesian Games or the Pacific Games). For such competitions, athletes must athletes must equal or better the minimum posted qualifying time in one or more 100-meter individual events in order to be preliminarily qualified for consideration to participate. Qualified athletes may swim 50-meter events at the competition.

For the Olympic Games, the qualification and selection criteria are established by World Aquatics. If no athlete achieves the qualifying time, then at the sole and exclusive discretion of World Aquatics and GNOC, and subject to any other applicable criteria, the male and/or female athlete who has achieved the highest World Aquatics Points Table score in an individual Olympic qualifying event during the relevant qualifying period may be invited to the Games.

The Pacific Games Council has announced that the 2023 Solomon Island games scheduled for November 19 to December 2, 2023, will be recognized by FINA as a qualification event for the 2024 World Championships in Doha, Qatar. The Games will also be recognized as a qualifier for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.

Additionally, athlete eligibility for the Solomon Islands will utilize FINA regulations.

The qualifying time standards for the 20th FINA 50M World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan have been announced. Originally scheduled for 2022, the event was postponed due to Covid and will now be held between July 14 to 30, 2023.

Download the time standards here.

In what should be the last of the Covid reshuffling, FINA has rescheduled the 21st World Championships that was originally scheduled to take pace in Doha, Qatar in July 2023 to February 2 to 18, 2024. The change was necessitated because the 2022 championship event scheduled for Fukuoka, Japan was pushed back to July 2023. Instead of Fukuoka, the 2022 event was moved to Budapest, Hungary.

Melbourne, Australia has replaced Kazan, Russia as the host of the 16th FINA short course (25M) World Championships. The event will be held December 13 to 18, 2022.

Update June 20, 2022: Melbourne qualifying times have been released and can be downloaded here.

The XVII Pacific Games (Solomons 2023) will be held in Honiara, Solomon Islands from November 19 to December 2, 2023.

The qualifying time period is January 1, 2022 to August 31, 2023. All qualifying times must be earned at a GSF or GNOC-sanctioned event

Download qualifying times

Athletes who equal or better the QT in one or more 50-meter individual events* are preliminarily qualified for consideration to participate in the Pacific Games, provided that all other qualification requirements are met. This includes (but is not limited to), the athlete’s rank & times, technical skill, age, maturity, fitness, residency, citizenship, ethics, and behavior.

No one has the right or entitlement to participate in the competition. At all times, and regardless of any athlete or official’s application for nomination to the Pacific Games, the final selection of athletes and officials to the team including event entries is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Guam National Olympic Committee and/or the relevant organizing committee.

All athletes entered in individual events can be used in relays, even if they have not achieved the QT for the corresponding stroke and distance of the relay in which they are entered.

*If no 50-meter times are available, 25-meter times may be submitted to GSF for conversion and possible consideration.

**Qualifying time standards for the Pacific Games, the Micronesian Games, and other GNOC-sanctioned events are guided by the 1991 order of the GNOC Executive Board that qualification to participate shall be minimally based on the times of the third (3rd) place finishers in the finals for each event as achieved during the last edition of the relevant Games (2019 Samoa). With approval, the GSF may allow for minimum times achieved by the last place finisher in the finals for each event, which is typically the 6th or 8th place depending on the competition.