Further Site Inspection Visits for 2010 World Champ Bids

IPC Swimming Sports Manager Agnes Szilak and IPC Swimming Chairperson Tim Reddish went to Minneapolis, USA, to meet with Julie O'Neill (US Paralympics), Duane Proell, Sarah Stallkamp (University of Minnesota) and Katie Smith (Meet Minneapolis) from the bid authority to discuss the bid documents, give constructive feedback and answer questions.

During four days of meetings, the group also visited the competition venue, various training venues, the proposed Paralympic Family hotel and some of the athletes' accommodation. Furthermore, they attended a swim meet at the competition venue to get an impression of how a competition run would look like.

In 2006, several cities from around the world followed a call for expressions of interest to host the 2010 IPC World Championships in Swimming and submitted the bid application questionnaire. In January 2007, the IPC reviewed the submitted material and selected Minnesota (USA) and Eindhoven (the Netherlands) to continue in the formal bid application process. Since then, the applicants were required to submit the completed bid application, which has been reviewed by the IPC.

The site inspection visit to Eindhoven will follow from 29 October to 1 November.

Beginning of last week, a site inspection visit to Barcelona, Spain, the second bid city for the 2010 IPC Athletics World Championships, has also been conducted successfully.

In November, the bid applicants for Athletics and Swimming will be invited to present to the IPC World Championships Bid Evaluation Committee the final bid proposal. The Committee will recommend the preferred bids to the IPC Governing Board, who will then award the 2010 World Championships in November 2007.