Welcome to Episode 101 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!In this episode, we expound upon the various ways that Swimrun teams can qualify for ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship. This episode is pretty self-serving since we were trying to figure this out to determine our own chances of qualifying for the World Championship and figured that we put it together for everyone before the application period opens on December 14th.There are a total of 160 team spots available for qualification for ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship. The race is held on the first Monday in September every year.To be able to participate in ÖTILLÖ you have to race in a team consisting of two persons that are at least 18 years old and able to swim. Each team member needs to have valid insurance for swimrun or sports similar to swimrun. Some other things worth noting:Your application is final and will not be reimbursed if a team is accepted. Use your insurance if you have a medical issue and need a reimbursement.You are allowed to change one team member of the same gender. This can’t happen until after ÖTILLÖ Engadin.No external sales of your entry is allowed.There are five ways to get a spot at the legendary race. We will discuss each below:1. Podium at ÖTILLÖ World Series Distance RacePretty self-explanatory here9 spots available at each event, 3 for each category (Men’s, Women’s, and Mixed)2. Direct Qualification9 spots per eventThis is essentially like a roll-down qualificationSpots are distributed between classes according to the number of races per class E.g., 4 men, 3 mixed, 2 women3. 7/24 ConceptStarting in 2017, The 7/24 concept is a guaranteed way of getting a spot at the Swimrun World ChampionshipYou and your teammate have to race 5 World Series races & 2 Merit races in 24 months. It can be any of them and it can also be the same races two times. All you have to do is finish them. Then you apply and you will get a guaranteed spotThis way will also put you relatively high in the ranking which will allow you to apply in that category too4. Race Directors Choice10 spots at the race director’s discretionTypically given throughout the year for sponsors, media and/or special circumstancesE.g., when Rich Roll/Chris Hauf qualified in 2018 it was through a director’s choice5. Swimrun Ranking Points: (We’ll spend most of the time on this one since it’s the method that affects us)78 SpotsThe spots are distributed evenly between the classes according to the amount of applications per classIf you apply in more than one category we will select the team with the highest ranking in the respective category (Men, Women or Mixed)Reserve lists will be made per class and are based on ranking Presentation of teams on the first Thursday of February. The application opens on December 14thImportant to note for Race Directors and ranking slots:The distribution of Ranking and Directors choice Spots will be done according to the amount of applications per category (men, women and mixed) so that we have an equal percentage between the categories.In other words, if more women teams apply than in year’s past, there will be more spots assigned to that category. Wild Swimrun has a great article on their website explaining how this works.  How does the Swimrun Ranking system work?It’s basically a points system. Teams register at swimrunranking.com and results are assigned points after teams either submit their finish times or they are auto-populated for ÖTILLÖ events. The points are distributed based on the following criteria:The system is built using inverse property.40% of the points are based on your overall result in the race. No matter which class you are in.60% of the points are based on your time in relation to the average time of all finishing teams. This means that teams finishing very close together get very similar “time points” in relationship to their position and vice versa i.e. performance driven.Races are weighted differently. The base points are mu