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In a first for Australia, World Para Swimming has today named Melbourne as the host for the opening 2019 World Para Swimming World Series.

Going into its third season, the competition brings together the world’s best swimmers in some of the biggest and most traditional Para swimming events on the planet.

The 2019 World Series will be the largest to date taking place in eight countries across four continents from February to June next year.

Along with Australia, Netherlands and Singapore are the three countries making their debut as World Series hosts.

With the Melbourne event to be staged on 15th February, Swimming Australia’s General Manager of Paralympic Programs Adam Pine advised “it is a great opportunity for Melbourne and for Paralympic swimming in this country to have the opening event of the World Series hosted in Australia.

“The meet will provide valuable racing experience for our athletes and will bring many other athletes from all over the world to our shores.”

Pine also said the event will deliver an opportunity for Australian athletes to be internationally classified, adding “thanks to the support and additional investment from the Australian Paralympic Committee, this meet will mean that many of our athletes will have access to the international classification process.

“This is a vital process to begin preparation to be eligible for 2019 World Para Swimming Championships and the 2020 Paralympic games.”

Swimming Victoria will host the World Series Para event concurrently with the Victoria Open.

Swimming Victoria Chief Executive Jason Hellwig said they were thrilled to be part of the World Para Swimming 2019 World Series.

Hellwig advised “this is a great recognition for Victorian swimming and will put some well-earned focus on para swimming both here and Australia wide.

“We can’t wait to see some of the world’s best para swimmers compete against our home grown heroes at the Victorian Open Championships in February.”

All athletes' results at each World Series edition are calculated using a standardised World Para Swimming points system via an online virtual competition platform.

This ensures that the overall World Para Swimming World Series winner will be the best performing athlete over the duration of the series, meaning that every performance counts.

The 2019 World Para Swimming World Series calendar:

• Melbourne - 15th to 17th February
• Netherlands - March 
• Indianapolis, USA - 4th to 6th April 
• Glasgow, Great Britain - 25th to 28th March
• Sao Paulo, Brazil - 26th to 28th April 
• Singapore - 10th to 12th May 

Image courtesy of World Para Swimming.

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