We recently hosted the very first ISNAC Swimming Championships at NIS, a milestone event that our local Nanjing league has been building towards for more than 3 years. 175 swimmers from international schools in and around Nanjing competed in our 25-metre NIS pool. 68 of our own NIS Lions brought their spirit to the event, from ages 7 to 18.

“This league is important to the development of our swimmers,” said Niels Loos, NIS Aquatics Director. “We can compete locally and multiple times in our own pool, without having to travel far or organise an overnight trip. At home, our student athletes get comfortable and perform in a well-known environment. Such opportunities are rare, and we need to take full advantage of them. We exactly did that during the Championships, by showing up in numbers and by performing at our best.”

In our own pool, NIS dominated the ISNAC Swimming Championships – taking 8 First places and 2 Second places out of 10 age group categories.

“This overall success resulted in a clear victory for NIS as we can truly call ourselves 2026 ISNAC Champions,” said Mr. Loos. “With a total of 1723 points, we finished 700 points ahead of the competition and could not be more proud of our fast and powerful swimming Lions.”

This competition was not only measured in medals and trophies, but much more in the form of friendships and connections that were made and strengthened on the pool deck and break times with all student-athletes, coaches, volunteers and officials.

“The swim culture has a bright future in Nanjing,” said Mr. Loos, “and NIS is here to lead the way.”