2018 ENERGY FOR SWIM MEET CANCELLED AFTER NEGOTIATIONS BREAK DOWN

British World Record holder Adam Peaty first broke the news on his social media accounts. Archive photo via Fabio Cetti – Kcs Media s.r.l – www.facebook.com/kcsmediasrl

Article by BRADEN KEITH

The 2018 Energy for Swim meet scheduled for December in Turin, Italy has been cancelled. The news first came on Thursday morning via Adam Peaty‘s Instagram account, where he said he was “incredibly disappointed.”

“I’m incredibly disappointed next month’s swim meet in Turin has been cancelled because of politics,” Peaty said. “As swimmers who represent our country and are passionate about our sport, we need to ask why. I firmly believe that the athletes should be at the heart of any decision made by our governing body and this is just what our sport and the athletes need. I think this is the wrong decision and it will galvanize the swimmers, not break them.”

By the terms of the agreements, athletes who have signed contracts, including most recently American Olympian Josh Prenot, who signed on Wednesday, they will still receive 50% of their appearance money. When announced earlier this year, the meet was scheduled to offer $2.1 million in prize and appearance money.

We have reached out to several athletes involved for further comment or to see if they will now attempt to scramble and race at the Short Course World Championships as a result of the cancellation.

We have also reached out to meet organizers to see if they have any plans to proceed with an anti-trust lawsuit as a result of the cancellation, as Italian attorney and law professor Stefano Bastianon says they would have a strong case, based on the International Skating Union ruling by the European Commission in a similar case. We have not yet heard back from organizers, but will respond when we do.

Organizers told SwimSwam this week that the Italian Federation, which was attempting to host the meet, was negotiating feverishly with FINA, but the cancellation indicates that those negotiations broke down.

Article Source: https://swimswam.com/2018-energy-for-swim-meet-cancelled-after-negotiations-break-down/