SPORT & COMPETITION HANDBOOK 2026 DRAFT FOR CONSULTATION

The Competition Handbook Committee has been diligently reviewing the Sport & Competition Handbook to:

• Ensure the event rules align with the current ILS Competition Rule Book (Sept 2025);
• Provide clarity on items such as eligibility and pointscore;
• Streamline document organisation to remove duplicate information.

As the changes are extensive for this review cycle, only the ILS changes in Section 4 and Section 8 have been highlighted in yellow noting the two (2) new ILS events have been added.

NB: Blue highlighted sections need to be checked for accurate cross referencing.

Sections  2, 3 and 7 will be uploaded shortly.

Please send all feedback to sport@rlssa.org.au

SPORT & COMPETITION HANDBOOK

The Australian Pool Life Saving Championships will be conducted under the RLSSA 2026 Sport & Competition Handbook. Once finalised, this edition replaces all previous editions.

SANCTIONING

The Australian Pool Lifesaving Championships will be conducted as an International Life Saving Federation (ILS) sanctioned competition.

The RLSSA Competition Handbook incorporates all technical rules and bulletins included in the 2023 ILS Competition Rulebook, launched 1 June 2023. The changes to the previous edition are detailed in the Preface Section at the front of the new ILS Competition Rulebook

ANTI-DOPING

The World Anti-Doping Code came into effect in January 2021 with recent additions to the List of Prohibited Substances and Methods and the 2025 Monitoring Program coming into effect 1 January 2025. A Summary of Major Modifications and Explanatory Notes can be found on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) website.

ILS anti-doping information can be found here on their website. The ILS Anti-Doping Rules and Anti-Doping Education Bulletin are linked below.

It is the responsibility of athletes, coaches, officials, administrators and support personnel to be aware of and understand their obligations under the Code. Further information and a summary of changes in the 2021 Code can be found here on the Sport Integrity Australia website.

It is recommended that all Royal Life Saving members and APLSC participants complete the Anti-Doping Fundamentals online course (previously Anti-Doping Level 1). This course is free but requires registration to the Sport Integrity Australia e-learning platform.