In competitive swimming, the term short course (abbreviated SC) is used to identify a

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming and associated activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built abo ...

that is in length. The term is also often included in meet names when conducted in a short course pool. "Short course" is the second type of pool configuration currently recognized by

World Aquatics World Aquatics, formerly known as FINA (; ), is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administering international competitions in List of water sports, water sports. It is one of several interna ...

and other swimming bodies for pool competition; the other/primary pool length being "

long course An Olympic-size swimming pool is a swimming pool which conforms to the regulations for length, breadth, and depth made by World Aquatics (formerly FINA) for swimming at the Summer Olympics and the swimming events at the World Aquatics Champion ...

", where the pool is 50 meters in length. Swimming events at the Olympics and at the World Aquatics Championships are conducted in a long-course pool. The "

World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m) The World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m), formerly known as the FINA World Swimming Championships (25m), also referred to as 'short course worlds', are an international Swimming (sport), swimming competition staged by the internationally ...

", colloquially the "short-course worlds", are held in alternate years from the long-course worlds. Short-course competitions may be held in a longer pool into which a temporary barrier has been placed 25 metres from one end as a turning point. In the United States, the term "short course" is more commonly applied to competition, which is more common in that country. Short-course yards is generally abbreviated as "SCY" to differentiate it from short course meters (SCM). The US national federations,

USA Swimming USA Swimming is the national governing body for competitive swimming in the United States. It is charged with selecting the United States Olympic Swimming team and any other teams that officially represent the United States, as well as the overa ...

and U.S. Masters Swimming, both maintain SCY USA records; FINA does not currently recognize records set in SCY, but does recognize/keep SCM records. USA college (including

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

competition) and high school swimming are traditionally swum in SCY. Short-course meter competitions are also denoted by listing of the actual meter distance: "25m" (in swimming, a space is not placed between the number and the ''m'' for meter).FINA World Swimming Championships (25m)
page of the FINA website (www.fina.org); retrieved 2011-07-30 Lists of

world The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that Existence, exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk ...

and other records are kept separately for short- and long-course events; the short-course time is usually faster than the long-course record for the same distance. This is assumed to be connected to the increased number of turns and hence wall push-offs, where swimmers can get powerful leverage from the wall.

References

Swimming {{swimming-stub