The Irish default is one swim
I used to think every proper meet had a night session. That is what forums describe. In Ireland, the Saturday your nine-year-old actually attends is almost always a timed-final gala. Club Level 1 and 2 still print heats — heat 1, heat 2, heat 3 — but those heats are not a qualifier for later. They are the race. One trip down the pool. The clock across every heat decides the places. There is no “did they make it?” text at lunch. They already swam it. How long you sit in the building is how long a gala really is. This page is the format: one swim versus two.
Timed finals, heat-declared winners
Two phrases, same parent experience. Timed finals is the US wording. Swim Ireland packs often say heat-declared winner, or HDW. Everyone swims once. Official time across all heats is the ranking. Heat 3 of 3 is the fast heat, not a final at 6pm. A child in heat 1 can still have the fastest time of the session, because the last heat only holds the fastest seed times — it is not a practice round. How heats and lanes get filled is why the fastest swimmers go last. A timed-final heat is the result. A prelim heat is an audition.
| Timed finals / HDW | Prelims + finals | |
|---|---|---|
| How many swims | One | Two, if they qualify |
| Usual Irish setting | Club galas, most Level 1–2 | Regionals, Irish Age, Irish Open, McCullagh |
| What the morning decides | The result | Who comes back this evening |
| What medals usually follow | Time across every heat | The final (places stay in that final) |
| Parent day | One session, then home after the Team Manager says so | Stay findable. Qualifiers have a night session |
When prelims and finals actually appear
Prelims plus a separate final is a championship pattern. Regional Age Group and Senior long-course championships run finals in each age group for most individual events. Irish Age, Irish Youth & Senior, Irish Open, and McCullagh do the same for the short races. The pack will say heats and finals, or list an evening session. Believe the pack, not last month’s club gala.
It is not every event. At those championships, 50s, 100s, 200s, and often 400s go through heats and an A final — sometimes a B as well. The 800, the 1500, and almost all relays stay HDW: one swim, result from the heat. A Level 2 in January is still one swim. If the pack never mentions a final, there isn’t one.
Morning heats, evening finals
When the format is prelims and finals, the day splits. Heats run first — often a morning that starts earlier than a club gala. Anyone who makes a final comes back for a second warm-up and a second race, typically late afternoon into the evening. Irish Open packs have put finals warm-up around four and racing around half five. Regional weekends vary. The gap in the middle is not the end of the day. It is the wait. Sleep, the hotel, and a second morning is overnight and travel gala survival.
If they do not make a final, the morning time is still the result. You can often leave after relays and the Team Manager. If they do make it, lunch is a gap, not a departure. How long the building holds you is the duration guide. Whether you may vanish is a format question: did they qualify, and is there a relay.
Do not drive home after a good heat because “they’ve done their race.” If the sheet says they are in the A or B final, they have another race. Empty lane 5 at 6:40pm is how championships get ugly.
Who makes the final — A, B, and “bonus”
The morning sorts the field. In a ten-lane pool like the NAC, the fastest ten from the heats usually make the A final (championship final). The next ten, if the meet is running one and the field is big enough, make the B final. Irish Age and Youth & Senior typically run B finals in 50s, 100s and 200s when the age band is large enough after withdrawals. 400s are often A-final only. The Irish Open adds a Junior final on some events. The pack is the law, not this paragraph.
US sheets call the B a consolation final, and a third heat a C final or bonus final. Irish championships usually stop at A and B. You cannot place up into A-final medals from a B lane, even if the B time would have beaten someone in A. Places stay inside that final. The time is still official. Two alternates are usually listed. If your child is first reserve, they are on call until the referee locks the final.
Scratches, withdrawals, and the empty lane
A scratch is a withdrawal before they swim. At a club timed-final gala it is courtesy: tell the coach so the Team Manager can pull the name. At a championship with finals, it is a procedure. Swim Ireland championship guides set a window — often thirty minutes after the heat results for that evening’s final, and a previous-evening deadline for the next day’s events. Miss it and the club can take a fine (Irish Age packs have put that at €50). The coach or Team Manager files it. You do not walk onto deck to tell the referee.
If they made the final and they are not coming back, say it immediately. An undeclared no-show (NS) leaves a lane empty and can lock the alternate out. Scratching is allowed. Ghosting a final is not. Scratch is not NT (no seed time) and not a DQ. Scratch is “we are not swimming this.”
One message to the Team Manager as soon as you know: in, out, or alternate. Championship scratches have a clock on them. A balcony debate after the thirty minutes is already too late.
A slower final is still a real time
This is the bit parents delete by accident. The heat is 1:08.22. The final is 1:09.40. They raced for a medal, they were tired, the morning was the better swim. The evening is not a rehearsal you throw away. Both are licensed times in that course. Championship medals often follow the final. Last best follows the faster clock. If you only keep the final because it is the “proper” race, you overwrite a PB. If you only keep the heat, you lose that they made it back. Same event, same course, two times. Short course and long course stay separate.
Invented numbers. The faster one is last best on that course. The slower one still happened. Log both.
Distance events and relays still go once
Parents wait all day for an 800 final that is not coming. At Irish championships the 800 and 1500 are almost always HDW. Relays sit in the heats session as HDW as well. Irish Open sometimes swims the fastest distance heat as a “final” in the evening programme — still one swim, not a second go. Read the event, not the vibe of the weekend.
What to do as a parent
Read the meet pack the night before: heats session, finals session, which events are HDW. Get the start list for the morning. If they qualify, there will be a new start list for the evening — new heat, new lane. Write the new three numbers. Championship call rooms are stricter than a club marshalling row; they still follow heat and lane.
- ✓Know whether this meet is timed finals or heats-and-finals. The pack says it in one sentence.
- ✓After a heat, wait for the result before you plan the car. Qualified, alternate, or done.
- ✓If they are in a final or first reserve, stay findable. The gap is not home time.
- ✓Scratches go through the coach or Team Manager, inside the window, not via the referee.
- ✓Write the heat time immediately. Write the final time later. Do not pick a favourite.
- ✓Ask about relays before you leave, even if they missed the individual final.
Two clocks in one day — log both
I built Finzy as a swim log, not a meet-office feed. It will not mark prelim versus final for you. You can. Two entries, same event, same course, two times, a line of history. PBs sit by event and course. If the evening was slower, last best stays the morning. If the evening dropped, that is the new best. Keeping only the final is how a championship PB goes missing because it happened at 9:40am. It counted.
Club Saturday: one swim, that’s the result. Championship weekend: two clocks if they make it back. Log both. Do not keep only the final.
