Oct 01, 2018 at 09:03pm
If a gala states HDW, (Heat Declared Winner) this means there are no finals, Therefore if you have 30 swimmers competing in a 50 metre freestyle race the winner will be the swimmer with the fastest time regardless if the swimmer swam in the first or last heat. At many meets including our Club Championships all the swimmers in a given event will swim in heats together regardless of age, starting usually with slowest in the first heat and the fastest in the last heat. This does not mean that the 9 year olds are actually competing against 16 year olds or older as once all the heats are swum the swimmers times are sorted into the individual age groups and medals awarded accordingly. Where an event is Heat Declared Winner there are no Finals.
