This weekend, the Swimming World Cup will be held in Berlin. Swimmers of all genders and gender identities had been invited, which would be the premiere of an open class.

But when the organizer went through the registrations, there was no interest in participating in the open class.

"No one has signed up," said World Aquatics, formerly known as Fina.

In the past, transgender people have been prevented from participating in major international competitions. There were great expectations to invite to the open class in a competition where a world star like Sarah Sjöström is registered.

"Looking at the opportunity in the future"

"When the international federation set its selection criteria for women's and men's classes, we took it upon ourselves to explore the possibilities of an open class. It has now been thoroughly investigated to make this a reality," World Aquatics President Husain Al-Musallam said at the time of the invitation.

Despite the cold supper with the lack of registrations, the work will continue.

"Although there is no current demand at the elite level, the working group plans to look at the possibility of including open-category races at major events in the future," World Aquatics said.

MORE SWIMMING: Watch Sarah Sjöström's four straight golds in the 50m butterfly (July 2023):

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Photo: Bildbyrån