Quebec City in Canada is to host a Tri-Nations Cup contest between under-22s from Britain, Canada and France. Those of Olympic standard are excluded courtesy of the timing: the meet will take place August 1-2, 2008, on the eve of the Game in Beijing. The timing of the meet not only provides a great opportunity for developing talent who just missed out on Olympic selection but coincides with a 400th anniversary for the hosts: Quebec City is said to be North America's oldest "e;city"e;, while the three nations represent the linguistic heritage of Canada.

'This competition will bring World Class performances and history together,' said Pierre Lafontaine, CEO and head coach for Swimming Canada.  'It will celebrate international Sport and the foundation of Quebec as part of its 400th Anniversary. Our main goal with hosting such a meet is to give an opportunity to our athletes who are on the cusp of making the Olympic team to competed at a high level. This is our way of continuously preparing our future 2012 Olympics hopefuls.'

Michael Scott, who succeeded Bill Sweetenham as Britain's national performance director, added: 'We were very excited to receive an invitation to compete against Canada and France. It is very important for us to provide great opportunities like this to our next generation of swimmers.  We welcome this great occasion to fast track our young swimmer' performances.' Next generation for Britain means London 2012.  

'In this Olympic year it's crucial to have good competition opportunities for athletes, coaches and support staff to build experience as we approach the quadrennial to the London Games,' said John Atkinson, Britain's director of world-class programmes. 'Not everybody will have the chance to compete at this summer's Olympics but it's important to give athletes and coaches another competitive focus so they continue the hard work as we look beyond 2008. The Tri Nations Cup, European Junior and World Youth Championships will offer athletes the opportunity to compete on the international stage in an Olympic year as they continue their progress.'



Swimmers aged 22 and under for males and 20 and under for females will compete in a 50m pool. Two athletes per country will race each event in a shoot out, a points system determining overall meet result.