19th FINA World Championships
The 2022 World Aquatics Championships, the 19th edition of the FINA World Aquatics Championships, were held in Budapest, Hungary, from 17 June to 3 July 2022.[1] These championships included five disciplines, with high diving not staged for this edition of the championships.
Host selection
In 2013, FINA announced Gwangju, South Korea, and Budapest, Hungary, as the respective hosts of the 2019 and 2021 FINA World Aquatics Championships. In early 2015 Guadalajara, Mexico, withdrew from hosting the 2017 Championships due to a due to financial problems fueled by the global drop in oil prices.[2] FINA Bureau members held a vote by email for a replacement host city, with the majority voting in favour of bringing forward Budapest as host city for 2017, and re-running the bidding process for the 2021 edition for the Championships.[3] The 2021 championships were eventually awarded to Fukuoka, Japan, and were scheduled to be held between 16 July and August 1, 2021. To avoid a clash with the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics the event was rescheduled to be held between 13 and 29 May 2022. However, in January 2022, it was announced that the event in Fukuoka would be postponed a second time to 14–30 July 2023 due to the health impacts of the Omicron variant and the pandemic measures in Japan.[4] A week later, on 7 February 2022, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and FINA President Husain Al-Musallam announced an agreement for Budapest to hold an extraordinary edition of the FINA World Championships from 18 June to 3 July 2022 with the press release stating: "Budapest is set to hold a FINA World Championships from 18 June – 3 July 2022, a move that ensures athletes have a global aquatics championship to target in the summer of 2022. The agreement was reached after approval from the FINA Bureau today."[5] The 2022 championships in Budapest were to become the 19th edition, with the Fukuoka event postponed to 2023 to become the 20th edition of the FINA World Aquatics Championships.
Schedule
A total of 74 medal events were held across five disciplines, one less than the 2019 Championships. In view of the training and recovery challenges of a busy 2022 aquatics calendar, FINA decided to reverse the schedule and present the event on a smaller scale than previous years with only the compulsory events, choosing to drop the high diving and beach water polo events. In addition, there was a reversal in the schedule, with swimming and artistic swimming (traditionally held in the last week) reallocated to the first week, and diving and open water swimming to the second.[6][7]
| ● |
Opening ceremony
|
● |
Other competitions
|
● |
Finals
|
● |
Closing ceremony
|
M |
Men's matches
|
W |
Women's matches
|
| June/July
|
17
|
18
|
19
|
20
|
21
|
22
|
23
|
24
|
25
|
26
|
27
|
28
|
29
|
30
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
Total
|
| Ceremonies |
|
● |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
● |
-
|
| Swimming
|
|
5
|
4
|
5
|
5
|
5
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
42
|
| Open water swimming
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
2
|
|
2
|
2
|
|
|
|
7
|
| Artistic swimming
|
●
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10
|
| Diving
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
13
|
| Water polo
|
|
|
|
W
|
M
|
W
|
M
|
W
|
M
|
W
|
M
|
W
|
M
|
W
|
M
|
W
|
M
|
2
|
| Total
|
0
|
6
|
5
|
7
|
6
|
6
|
6
|
7
|
9
|
2
|
3
|
2
|
5
|
4
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
74
|
| Cumulative Total
|
0
|
6
|
11
|
18
|
24
|
30
|
36
|
43
|
52
|
54
|
57
|
59
|
64
|
68
|
69
|
71
|
74
|
74
|
Participating nations
Out of 209 FINA members, 185 nations take part in the Championships, as well as the FINA Refugee Team.[8] In March 2022, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, FINA banned both the Russian and Belarusian nationals from entering the championships.[9]
