FINA CHAMPIONS SWIM SERIES 2019 #1 – GUANGZHOU
- April 27-28, 2019
- Guangzhou, China
- Guangdong Olympic Sports Centre Swimming Natatorium
- LCM (50m)
- Saturday – 7:30 pm local / 7:30 am ET Opening Ceremony, 8:00 start
- Sunday – 7:30 pm local / 7:30 am ET start
- FINA Champions Series Info
- Entry List
- Live Stream (Olympic Channel)
- Live Stream (FINA TV)
- Extended Start Lists
- Live Results (Omega)
The first day of competition in Guangzhou is in the books and $422,000 was earned by 40 swimmers. $406,000 was awarded to the first- through fourth-place finishers in each individual event; $36,000 went to members of the top three relay teams. (FINA had originally proposed $2,000 for fourth-place relays but in its final documentation, no award was attributed beyond the first three relays.)
As a reminder, prize money is awarded as follows:
| Individual | Relay | |
| 1st | $10,000 | $16,000 |
| 2nd | $8,000 | $12,000 |
| 3rd | $6,000 | $8,000 |
| 4th | $5,000 |
Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu led the winnings table with $26,000 in three individual events and $3,000 for the mixed medley relay, for a total of $29,000. China’s Fu Yuanhui, China’s Xu Jiayu, and Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden each picked up $20,000 for the day, while Li Bingjie of China and USA’s Michael Andrew won $19,000.
Financially, the benefits tend to go to athletes whose past performances have led them to be invited to swim in the largest number of events over those who swim well at this meet, since all four competitors in each event are guaranteed prize money. As an example, Hosszu leads the money table largely because she had five swims. But she was well off her normal Iron Lady self by the end of the session (including a 2:02.5 in the 200 free). Andrew is another example. He started the day off with strong performances in the 50 fly and 50 breast but, despite a 2:04 in the 200 IM (7 seconds slower than he was at the Pro Swim Series in Richmond last weekend, where his 1:57.4 in the event caught headlines), he was still able to earn money.
Day 1 Money Table
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Individual Prize Money | Relay prize money |
Total Prize money
|
||
| Katinka Hosszu | Hungary | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | $26,000 | $3,000 | $29,000 |
| Fu Yuanhui | China | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | $20,000 | $20,000 | |
| Sarah Sjostrom | Sweden | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | $20,000 | $20,000 | |
| Michael Andrew | USA | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | $19,000 | $19,000 | |
| Xu Jiayu | China | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | $20,000 | $20,000 | |
| Li Bingjie | China | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | $16,000 | $3,000 | $19,000 |
| Georgia Davies | Great Britain | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | $14,000 | $4,000 | $18,000 |
| Chad le Clos | South Africa | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | $13,000 | $3,000 | $16,000 |
| Ryosuke Irie | Japan | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | $16,000 | $16,000 | |
| Kelsi Dahlia | USA | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | $16,000 | $16,000 | |
| Wang Jianjiahe | China | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | $11,000 | $2,000 | $13,000 |
| Kliment Kolesnikov | Russia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | $13,000 | $13,000 | |
| Pieter Timmers | Belgium | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | $10,000 | $2,000 | $12,000 |
| Zhang Yuhan | China | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | $11,000 | $11,000 | |
| Emily Seebohm | Australia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | $11,000 | $11,000 | |
| Yufei Zhang | China | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | $10,000 | $10,000 | |
| Nicholass Santos | Brazil | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | $10,000 | $10,000 | |
| Felipe Lima | Brazil | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | $10,000 | $10,000 | |
| Ye Shiwen | China | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | $10,000 | $10,000 | |
| Wang Shun | China | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | $10,000 | $10,000 | |
| Ranomi Kromowidjojo | Netherlands | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | $6,000 | $4,000 | $10,000 |
| Masato Sakai | Japan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | $10,000 | $10,000 | |
| Ben Proud | Great Britain | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | $5,000 | $4,000 | $9,000 |
| Vlad Morozov | Russia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | $6,000 | $2,000 | $8,000 |
| Joao Gomes Junior | Brazil | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | $8,000 | $8,000 | |
| Molly Hannis | USA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | $8,000 | $8,000 | |
| Qin Haiyang | China | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | $8,000 | $8,000 | |
| Liu Xiang | China | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | $8,000 | $8,000 | |
| Dana Vollmer | USA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | $5,000 | $2,000 | $7,000 |
| Li Guanguan | China | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | $6,000 | $6,000 | |
| Andrii Govorov | Ukraine | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | $6,000 | $6,000 | |
| Yu Jingyao | China | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | $6,000 | $6,000 | |
| Wang Yizhe | China | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | $6,000 | $6,000 | |
| Robert Glinta | Romania | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | $6,000 | $6,000 | |
| Li Zhuhao | China | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | $6,000 | $6,000 | |
| Imogen Clark | Great Britain | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | $5,000 | $5,000 | |
| Danas Rapsys | Lithuania | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | $5,000 | $5,000 | |
| Fabio Scozzoli | Italy | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | $5,000 | $5,000 | |
| Wang Zhou | China | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | $5,000 | $5,000 | |
| He Junyi | China | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | $4,000 | $4,000 | |
| Andrei Minakov | Russia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | $3,000 | $3,000 |
Cate Campbell earns nothing with an amazing relay split
She is talking too much and therefore wasn’t “invited” to swim 400free, 200fly, 200 free, 100 brest etc. Or maybe she was invited but found it insulting and proudly rejected. Who knows all these underneath political currents of the FINA’s world.
Relays have always been less fair than individual events, no matter in terms of money or medals. Sarah Sjostrom has the fastest 200 free split in textile, 4 of top 5 100 fly splits in history, and her 100 free wr was set in a relay lead-off, but how many relay medals did she get at World Championships or Olympics? As a swimmer you have to accept the fact that fantastic relay split doesn’t necessarily bring you reward. It’s dependent on the whole team.
It’s a bit different when your competing as a nation vs prize money being dependent on a FINA relay lucky draw where you get a breaststroker leading off a 4×100 freestyle relay.
And vice versa: the entire team may mean nothing if they don’t have somebody like Cate or Sarah or Katie. The most balanced relay teams are Chinese women ones. They don’t have outstanding leaders but they are a pack of wolves.
Have a fastest split bonus. Closest to the individual WR (by %) gets $3k. Might also encourage the team who is coming 4th to swim for something if FINA has changed their mind about giving them prize money for all the teams.
They would have to pay something for the 4th (as to every individual 4th) as previosly planned. It would be nothing comparing the number of individual races and the relays.
Of course they could pay for the best w and m splits, highest FINA points, etc. and as in the other article had been asked to Yozhik, too. 😉
wait didnt xu jiayu win both the mens 100 and 200 back? then he should have gotten 20k $, not 10k like in the list
Good for the swimmers to earn some money, but why should I as a fan care for this competition? At least the ISL has a rather interesting format on paper, depending on how things fall into place.
Let’s wait with the conclusion to the end of the year. But I agree, what can be more immoral than this “Pay Day By Invitation”. Have you noticed who are on the top of payroll list male and female? Haven’t you seen these names together under some other circumstances?
How can it be explained that organizers of this show invited a swimmer to race 4 back to back events of the toughest category? Didn’t they understand, if they have some knowledge about swimming at all, that it would be pathetic. That it would be a performance below the junior-in-season level. So if they care about the attractiveness of this show or its prestige they would use their “invite” power… Read more »
I think FINA is thinking in the long run.
This is the first competition and it s showing the other swimmers that they can make money, if they are able to be invited. And to be invited they have to perfom well more often, hence turning the sport of swimming ‘appealing’ to the viewers more frequently
Sure it would be nice if they end up finally with some formal procedure that would invite strongest swimmers to compete for big money. The procedure that is not restricted by number of swimmers per nation requirements and will have underneath some quantitative factors like the ranked performance in events during last 6 months adjusted by the strength of the field. Or this tournament can be made as some kind of award ceremony where swimmers who achieved outstanding results at major FINA meets will receive monetary guaranteed reward in the form of some exhibition competitions. So times shown won’t be a goal but all fans will come to celebrate their best swimmers. Like the all-star West vs East NBA match.… Read more »
Most of your questions have been answered already by others and me, too. Please read it once. Thanks.
I don’t mind to be reminded. Forget about Hosszu, don’t want to hurt you more than she did today with her pathetic performance after 400 race. What bothers me in this “FINA invite” system is that first of all we don’t know who personally does it within FINA. And secondly when FINA leaves to itself the right to give ANY person $5000 without any explanation and accountability then it is a direct way to bribery and corruption. And I’m not kidding or exaggerating. The only thing needed is to send invitation. And the only thing that is required on receiving side is to show up in the swimming suit on the deck at particular time. I’m not sure if this… Read more »
Everybody knows that you aren’t “kidding or exaggerating” that’s the main problem with you.
We don’t know the facts (who was invited, what was her answer etc.) only saw what happened.
You mentioned e.g a swimmer who swam 1:00 in 100 fly and 57 in the relay yesterday and otherwise her well deserved relay golds are 7 and 15 years of age.
Most of the other performances were “pathetic” but you only see Katinka’s as always.
I think you’re suffering in -can be “call”ed- Hosszu phobia but it’s up to you, of course.
MA has 5 events tomorrow
Make that money Michael Andrew. ☺
Katinka rules!
@OL’ LONGHORN: What can be more fair than numbers?
Average(#8, #318, #107, #378) = #203 (rankings are based on 2018 season)
Ranking #203 – that is the quality FINA paid $26,000 for today. But to make this “champion by invitation” scam even more impressive they decided to pile on the top $3000 more, so the media will have something to say about this shameless greed.
Weird format
Kind of feels like FINA saying sorry for nickel and diming you—here’s some money.
Is 4 swimmers more exciting than 8?
4 swimmers is cheaper than 8. I assume their expenses are paid for.