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Coach – Invalidating Times for Your Team

  • Updated

Coaches play an important role in keeping their team’s data accurate on Swimcloud. When a timing error occurs, coaches may be able to invalidate or revalidate a time for swimmers on their own team so it no longer appears in rankings or swimmer profiles—while still preserving the integrity of the original meet results.

Coach Account Permissions

The ability to invalidate times depends on your Swimcloud subscription level.

Swimcloud PRO Coaches

Swimcloud PRO coaches can:

  • Invalidate times for swimmers on their own team
  • Revalidate previously invalidated times
  • Manage relay split invalidations

Swimcloud FREE Coaches

Swimcloud FREE coaches cannot directly invalidate times.

If you discover an incorrect time for one of your swimmers:

  1. Copy the link to the result
  2. Send the link and a brief explanation to support@swimcloud.com or your Regional Administrator
  3. Swimcloud staff or a Regional Administrator will review the request and take action if appropriate

💡 Upgrading to Swimcloud PRO gives coaches direct access to team data management tools, including time invalidation and revalidation.

Note: If you do not see the Invalidate button, your account may not have permission to invalidate times directly.

Important Limitations

Coaches can only invalidate or revalidate times for swimmers on their own team.

Coaches cannot edit or correct times. If a time needs to be corrected (not removed), the meet administrator must correct the time in the meet manager:

  • A Swimcloud-run meet: The meet administrator can use Swimcloud’s meet-editing tools to adjust within the appropriate timeframe
  • Other meet managers: A corrected results file must be uploaded

For Swimcloud PRO Coaches

What Does “Invalidating” a Time Do?

Invalidating a time:

  • Removes the time from:

    • Swimmer profiles

    • Top Times lists

    • Rankings

  • Does not:

    • Delete the time from the meet results

    • Modify the original meet file

    • Affect event scoring or team scoring

  • Can be reversed at any time by revalidating the time

Swimcloud will automatically re-rank affected lists during the next scheduled rankings update.

When Should You Invalidate a Time?

Invalidating a time is appropriate when the displayed result is clearly incorrect and the correct time is unknown. Common examples include:

  • Touchpad or timing system malfunction

  • Obvious timing errors

  • Relay split issues (including lead-off splits)

⚠️ If the correct time is known, do not invalidate the result.
Instead, contact the meet administrator and request that the results be corrected and resubmitted.

How to Invalidate an Individual Time

You can invalidate a time from anywhere the final time appears on Swimcloud, including:

  • Meet Results

  • Top Times lists

  • Swimmer Profiles

Steps:

  1. Locate the incorrect time for one of your swimmers.

  2. Click on the time value to open the meet result details page.

  3. Click the time on the result page.

  4. Click the Invalidate button.

  5. Confirm the action.

Once invalidated:

  • The button will change from Invalidate to Validate

  • The time will be removed from rankings and swimmer profiles

If the invalidation was done in error, return to this screen and click Validate to restore the time.

Invalidating Relay Splits

Relay times and splits can also be invalidated, as long as the swimmer is on your team.

To invalidate a relay split:

  1. Navigate to the relay event results.

  2. Click Show names to display individual relay legs.

  3. Click on the individual split time for your swimmer.

  4. Click Invalidate.

Visual Indicators After Invalidating

After a time is invalidated, you may notice:

  • The action button will change from Invalidate to Validate

  • A warning icon () next to the time indicating it has been invalidated

🔄 Note: You may need to refresh the page to see the warning indicator appear.

Important Notes & Limitations for Coaches

  • Coaches can only invalidate times for swimmers on their own team

  • Times for other teams can only be handled by:

    • The meet administrator

    • A Regional Administrator

    • Swimcloud support staff

  • If a time is invalidated after rankings have been published, Swimcloud will automatically re-rank results during the next rankings update

  • If an invalid time was already used for meet entry qualification, invalidating it will not retroactively change entries

  • Invalidating a time is always reversible

For Swimcloud FREE Coaches

Requesting a Time Invalidation

If you are using a Swimcloud FREE account, you can request a time invalidation by sending the result link to Swimcloud Support.

To copy the result link

  1. Locate the incorrect time
  2. Click the time to open the result details page
  3. Copy the URL from your browser address bar
  4. Email the link and a short explanation to support@swimcloud.com

Helpful information to include:

  • Swimmer name
  • Meet name
  • Event
  • Why is the result incorrect

 

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