World Aquatics has updated the Competition Regulations for swimming, diving, water polo, artistic swimming, open water swimming and high diving, along with swimwear equipment. The new rules will come into effect at all international aquatic events, starting with the World Aquatics events calendar for 2025.
BUDAPEST—The World Aquatics Bureau approved an update to the World Aquatics Competition Regulations, which will become effective during the 2025 World Aquatics events calendar.
The rule changes by sport:
Swimming
Backstroke Ledge: Minor updates to the required specification for the backstroke ledge, changing the minimum width from 65 cm to 60 cm.
Diving
New Diving Synchronised Events Format: Synchronised diving events will return to a revised format, which includes a preliminary round followed by a Top 8 Final (rule change page/link).
Dryland Preparation Area: A new description of the athlete dryland preparation area layout plan.
Minimum Pool Depth: Updated minimum pool depth to 5m.
Water Polo
Field of Play (FOP): The overall Field of Play for men’s and women’s matches will be 25.60m x 20.0m.
Team Composition: The team start list shall consist of a maximum of fourteen eligible players, composed of twelve field players and two goalkeepers.
Possession Time: The maximum ball possession time within a men’s match will be 25 seconds; the maximum ball possession time within a women’s match will be 30 seconds.
Coaches’ Challenge: Each coach is entitled to challenge one referee-initiated call per match, so long as the challenge involves the following:
- A referee’s perceived failure to call a violent action; or
- A referee's perceived failure to call a penalty foul; or
- A referee’s perceived incorrect call of a penalty foul; or
- Field of play situations not reviewed by VAR technology.
Goalkeeper: A team must start the match with seven players, one of whom must be a goalkeeper. Following the start of the match, a team is not obliged to have a goalkeeper in the water and may instead have seven field players.
Artistic Swimming
Balancing Difficulty and Artistic Scores: The weightings of scores are refined to ensure a better balance between difficulty and artistry. Updates include an expanded set of difficulty families and, more precisely, standardise the Difficulty and Acrobatic Catalogue guidelines.
Emphasis on Execution Scores for Difficult Elements: The execution score will play a more prominent role in evaluating challenging elements, reinforcing the importance of technical precision.
Stricter Penalties for Major Mistakes and Synchronicity Errors: The updated regulations introduce harsher penalties for major errors, including synchronicity lapses, to uphold the highest performance standards.
Video Assisted Review: Technical Controllers may have one slow-motion review for each element part.
Music Rights Clearance: Mandatory clearance of music rights to safeguard teams and National Federations.
Open Water Swimming
3km Individual Knockout Sprint | Updated competition regulations for this event.
Video Review Judge | A new role for a technical official is defined to ensure the integrity of results.
Wearables’ Technology | Updated protocol for declaring and tracking wearable technology.
High Diving
Degree of Difficulty Tables | Clarification of certain Rules and Degree of Difficulty (DD) table
New Rule | Straight-position dives shown for less than 270° (3/4 of a somersault).
Competition Regulation Updates for Swimwear Equipment
Additionally, the World Aquatics Competition Regulations for Swimwear Equipment have been updated in this latest release. These Swimwear Equipment updates include:
Open Water Swimming Wetsuits | Updated rules for flexibility in the design of open water swimming wetsuits.
Approval of Swimwear Accessories | Simplified process for goggles that have already been deemed to meet the standards set by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for swimwear accessories.
Introduction of Period-Friendly Swimwear for Women | Updated regulations now permit the use of specially designed swimwear for women during their menstrual periods. These swimsuits prioritise functionality and discretion while adhering to performance standards.
Swimwear Equipment Administrative Process | Updates to the previous swimwear equipment approval system, eliminating the three annual deadlines for submitting applications.