The rules for GSS have been deliberately designed to offer simple and well defined standards that allow individual races to continue to operate independently, while also simultaneously providing a field of standardized competition across the globe.
The Global Swim Series season runs from May 1st to April 30th the following year.
1) The key guiding principle is that each race or event is independent and will be in charge of their own specific rules for their own race(s). Our goal isn’t to standardize races, rules or distances and have races lose their local flavor, that is what makes each race different, interesting and exciting. However, we do have some overriding standards that are common among all the races and are used to derive the points, ranking system and season’s Global Champions.
2) Divisions: The Global Swim Series recognizes champions in the following 4 divisions:
*GSS defines “Non-Wetsuit”, “Naked” or “Skins” are defined as legal FINA-style, open water textile swimsuits.
Races must offer results in these divisions if they allow swimmers to swim both with and without a wetsuit. Due to local race conditions some races may be wetsuit mandatory or have wetsuits not allowed.
3) All races must track swimmers ages as of the next April 30 (the end of the GSS season), so that a swimmer remains in the same age group throughout the season.
4) Global Rankings will be calculated by 10 year age groups and within each Category. The following are the official GSS age groups:
5) How GSS Points are calculated for Regular Season Races.
– For all Regular Season Races a swimmer can earn up to 100 points per race. 50 points are
given for participation and up to 50 points for speed. The swimmer must complete the race to
earn the 50 participation points. The speed points are based on the percentile ranking
according to speed.
– This is how all races are calculated, regardless of distance, water conditions, number of
swimmers, etc.
Example: A swimmer swims a 1.5 km race and places 53rd out of 220 swimmers. The swimmer
gets 50 participation points for completing the race, plus the speed points which are based
on the “percentile placing” ÷ 2. In this case: 75.91 ÷ 2 =37.96 speed points. A total of:
50+37.96 = 87.96 GSS Points are awarded to the swimmer for that race.
6) Winners – as well as having individual age group recognition for each of the 4 categories (Male Wetsuit, Female Wetsuit, Male Non-Wetsuit, Female Non-Wetsuit), there will be 3 types of major champions:
The key guiding principle is that each race or event is independent and will be in charge of their own specific rules for their own race(s). Our goal isn’t to standardize races, rules or distances and have races lose their local flavor, that is what makes each race different, interesting and exciting. However, we do have some overriding standards that are common among all the races and are used to derive the points, ranking system and season’s Global Champions.
7) Points in the series are added up throughout the season with all the GSS races you do around the globe counting towards your total score.
8) You can NOT combine the points from different races if you swam one race in a “Wetsuit” and another “Non-Wetsuit”. You would simply have 2 separate rankings, one in “Wetsuit” and one in “Non-Wetsuit”.
NOTE: the only exception to this rule is that if the race OFFICIALLY doesn’t offer your category then you can swim in whichever category is offered. For example: if it is a cold swim and all swimmers are required to wear wetsuits then a non-wetsuit swimmer could still swim and have points counted. The opposite is true too, if the water is too warm and wetsuits are not allowed, then a wetsuit swimmer may swim non-wetsuit and still have the points count towards their ranking. GSS reserves the right to modify categories based on temperature.
9) If a swimmer was able to swim in more than one race at the same event on the same day, only one race would be included in the GSS rankings. So for example if an event offered a 1km, a 3km and 5km race on the same day and a swimmer competed in more than one of those events only one of those scores would count towards the series. We would select the race in which the swimmer achieved the most points.
10) Some races and swimmers do not count towards the Series (ie. Kid’s Splash and Dash, swimmers using fins, snorkels and other aids, etc. Ask the local Race Director if unsure). Typically races less than 1 km are not eligible to collect points, nor are relays.
11) Swimmers who DNF (did not finish) do not get any points in the Series.
12) The GSS season runs from May 1 to April 30 the following year.
13) Each race sends GSS their results, which we then formulate into GSS points and post on our website. If there is an issue with the points or placing of your swim, please contact the specific race director and discuss the issue, do not contact GSS. The race director will then need to resubmit the corrected results to GSS. Except in exceptional circumstances, all results are final after 1 month, as it is not fair to other swimmers to change results if they aren’t discovered within that time frame. Only if there are specific GSS ranking related issues should you contact GSS.
14) The GSS wants to grow and add races to the series, therefore races can be added during the season. This may effect some swimmers race schedule and plans, therefore all races must be officially registered on the website at least 1 month prior to the race.
15) Distance Points: For the 2024/25 season we have added Distance Points to the scoring system. Designed to reward those of our swimmers who accomplish one of the several marathon swims on the GSS schedule.
The way it works is simple, for a GSS race that is over 10km a swimmer will gain 10 bonus points for each kilometer above 10km the race distance is. So for any swim 10km and under you get 0 distance points, but for a 20km swim you would earn an extra 100 points (20-10=10km x10points = 100points).
So for example say you compete in the 3.8km LOST Race and win, you could get something like: 50 participation points + 49.5 percentile points = 99.5 points. If you were to complete the 25km Rottnest Port to Pub swim and win you might get something like: 50 participation points + 48 percentile points + 150 distance points = 248 points.
This rule change is designed to reward swimmers who compete in the ultra-long GSS races. Many of these races have a much smaller field and therefore someone coming 5th completing a 20km swim might get the same amount of points as someone coming 200th in a 1km swim. We designed this change to even the playing field a little for our long distance swimmers. While 250 points (for a 25km) might seem like a lot for a single race keep in mind that the swimmer is still only getting 150 points more than a swimmer doing a 1km swim despite swimming 25x the distance.
Distance bonus points are rounded to the nearest km. It is important to remember that GSS sets the rules for scoring results across the member races but the individual rules with regards to event safety, organization, timing, placing, etc. can often vary widely from race to race and are the responsibility of the individual race. Please review the rules of the specific GSS race you are competing in or consult the race director should you have any questions. GSS has no legal relationship or ownership holding in most GSS member races. Each race is independently owned and operated. Each race signs a waiver of liability with the GSS and each race is solely and legally responsible for their own race.
