This weekend Andorra hosts the 3rd Swimming Championship of the Small States of Europe, featuring 13 swimmers from Luxembourg, 15 from Gibraltar, 6 from Malta, 4 from Cyprus, 2 from Montenegro, 23 from Iceland, 13 from San Marino and 33 from the host country Andorra, plus additional participant in the simultaneous 5th Andorra Open.
The SCSSE is a biennial event first held in Luxembourg in 2008 and then Iceland in 2010, added by the participating nations to complement the every other year Games of the Small States of Europe next time held in Luxembourg in 2013 that features also other sports than swimming. Small nations are defined as those with less than 1 million inhabitants, the Games also limited to only Olympic nations while these Championships now follow FINA definitions and therefore also allow for instance my (non-Olympic) nation of the Faroe Islands to compete.
Iceland is the obvious huge favorite, having won in 2010 and not participated in 2008. We the Faroese participated at the 2010 meet in Iceland and placed 2nd, but decided not to go this year because of tight funds, school exams and pressed time schedule.
See more here on fan.ad. I’ll try to keep up on results, also because this is an Olympic qualifying event. I read on sundsamband.is from two days ago that the Icelandic are living and dining fine, and in good spirits to win the cup.
