State-by-state: the squads to watch across all 41 events

Fourteen contingents are entered across SUKMA XXII's swimming programme, plus Brunei racing as an invited guest in the sprint events — a startlist that stretches from Perlis to Sabah and puts every regional swimming programme in the country on the same pool deck for five days.

Selangor enter as hosts with the broadest spread of entries on the sheet, fielding swimmers across almost every event on the programme and headlining the mixed medley relay as fastest seed. Wilayah Persekutuan travel with the meet's standout individual star in Xin Lin Chong, defending both backstroke sprints, and depth behind her in the medley and free events. Sarawak and Pulau Pinang both carry entries deep into the seed sheets across strokes, the kind of contingent-wide depth that tends to matter more over a five-day meet than any single fast swim.

Further down the state list, Kedah, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, Sabah, Terengganu and Kelantan all field competitive entries in individual events without the same across-the-board depth — contingents where a single strong swimmer can be worth watching across multiple sessions. Melaka and Johor round out the list with pockets of genuine speed, particularly in the age-group-heavy backstroke and breaststroke sprints.

Brunei's presence as invited guests in the sprint events adds an international look to what is otherwise a domestic startlist, and gives their swimmers a rare chance to race against Malaysian state programmes at full SUKMA intensity.

With finals starting at 5:00 PM each day and heats from 9:00 AM, the medal table won't take shape until the back half of the week — but the depth in this startlist suggests it won't be a one- or two-contingent story.