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Participation is reserved for the best swimmers and the best relay teams. Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS), the international federation responsible for finswimming, selects participants on the basis of the CMAS World Ranking which is a listing of the best performing senior and junior men and women from the most recent Finswimming World Championships and the rounds of the annual World Cup. The eight best qualifying swimmers in the CMAS World Ranking are obligated to compete while other swimmers will be invited to participate.
The final selection of swimmers is the responsibility of the CMAS Finswimming Commission with agreement from the CMAS Board of Directors. Each invited national federation may field no more than two swimmers per race and one relay team. A place in the relay is available for the World Games host if it chooses to field a team.[14]
As of November 2013, the program consists of qualifying and final races held over two days for the following techniques and distances for senior men and women:
Apnoea swimming (AP) - 50m,
Surface swimming (SF) - 100m, 200m, 400m and the 4 × 100 m relay.[14]
^The gold medalist in the 1981 men's 400m surface event, Italy's Giuseppe Galantucci, swam with bi-fins and recorded 3:28.01, while the other medalists used the generally faster monofins.