The FINA Short Course World Swimming Championships were held from 11th-16th December 2018 in Hangzhou, China.
This year was the
14th year of the FINA World Swimming Championships and the event has its own
website. FINA or Fédération internationale de natation (English: International Swimming Federation) is the international federation recognised by the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administering international competition in water sports. It is one of several international federations which administer a given sport or discipline for the IOC and international community. It is based in Lausanne, Switzerland.
What is the FINA World Swimming Championships?
Launched in 1988, the FINA Swimming World Cup gathers world-class swimmers in a series of two-day meets organised between August and November each year. Across nine locations, the circuit is structured in clusters (Middle East, Europe and Asia) and distributes a total of prize money reaching US$ 2.5 million.
This time around there were
7 qualifying events held throughout September and October, with the grand finale being the FINA World Cup in December 2018. These championships featured swimming events in a 25-meter (short-course) pool.
Aerial Camera Systems at the FINA World Swimming Championships
The Aerial Camera Systems (ACS) cameras and crews attended the FINA World Swimming Championships for live filming of the December 2018 event. There was a busy
6 day schedule of swimming competitions and so the event required lots of preparation, and a great set of cameras and crew to film the swimming.
ACS provided a 25m pooldeck
railcam with stabilised mount along with underwater cameras including Mobycam, underwater remotes and starting block cameras.
The pooldeck
railcam was fitted with a Stab-C compact stabilised mount and a crew of 3 operated. Underwater remotes were fitted with Sony HDXC300 cameras with Fujinon 18x5.5 lenses. These cameras provide images of the swimmers as they complete their turns at the end of the pool, provides the close up shots of the finish of races from under the water and can be used if it is a close finish to show a replay of the touch on the wall.
Starting block cameras are fitted with Toshiba HD1 cameras and a Fujinon 2.8mm lens. These cameras provide shots from the starting blocks at are particularly effective at the start of the backstroke races. The Mobycam is rigged along the bottom of the pool and delivers an underwater tracking shot of the swimmers during the races. Fitted with a Toshib HD1 camera and Fujinon 2.8mm lens the Mobycam can travel at 2.8 metres per second.
FINA World Swimming Championships 2018 Results
After 6 busy days of filming the crews had to de-rig before coming back home, but not before getting a few shots of the brand mascot for this event -
Jelly, the Jellyfish.
However, the Aerial Camera Systems (ACS) crews were delighted to have witnessed and filmed some fantastic
swimming results.
If you would like to find out more about live filming of sporting events, our huge inventory of
specialist cameras, or how our award winning crews could use their exceptional sports filming skills to enhance your next production, then please
get in touch.
