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This year's Australian open water swimming championships, part of the men's Olympic selection process, have been moved to Queensland from NSW.

Border closures due to COVID-19 have forced this year's Australian open water swimming championships to be moved to Queensland.

The event, which was originally scheduled to be held at the end of January at Penrith's International Regatta Centre in NSW, has been moved Lake Kawana on the Sunshine Coast from March 13-14.

The championships are a key part of the selection process for representation in the men's 10km event at the Olympic Games.

The field for that event will be determined at a qualification event in Fukuoka in May.

"Holding the event over the course of a weekend is really important and unfortunately that was not possible in Penrith," Swimming Australia open water performance manager Greg Shaw said.

"We were fortunate that Lake Kawana had an opening in March which aligns with timelines for the men's open water Olympic qualifying event in Japan in May, as well as our domestic schedule."

Queenslander Kareena Lee has already sewn up the women's open water position on Australia's Olympic team after her top-10 finish at the FINA World Swimming Championships in 2019.