Masters swimming

Masters swimming is a special class of competitive swimming for swimmers 25 years and older. Premasters is normally included as well, from 18 years old (Canada, USA and Australia) or 20 years old (Europe).

In Canada ten thousand swimmers in more than 250 clubs are organized within the Masters Swimming Canada organization. In the U.S.A. around sixty thousand masters swimmers are being supported by US Masters Swimming (USMS.org) in more than 1,500 masters swimming clubs or workout groups.

Rules

The rules and distances are nearly the same as for senior swimming. However, "breaststroke kicking movement is permitted for butterfly," and meet programs include mixed relay events (2 men / 2 women). The latter one is now copied by seniors.

Age categories

Individual swimmers compete within age groups of five years, determined by the swimmer's age on 31 December current year (in U.S. for meets held in non-metric pools, the age is determined as of the day of the competition). The age groups are: A:25–29 (years old), B:30–34, C:35–39, D:40-44; E:45-49; F:50-54, G:55-59; H:60-64, I:65-69, J:70-74; K:75-79; L:80-84, M:85-89, N:90-94, P:95-99, Q:100-104, R:105-109 and so on at 5-year increments as necessary. In 2014 Jaring Timmermann from Canada, at the age of 105, did set a world record as the oldest, but he died the same year.