2019 FINA Champions Swim Series – Guangzhou: Day 1 Money Table

FINA CHAMPIONS SWIM SERIES 2019 #1 – GUANGZHOU

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

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Samesame
5 years ago

Cate Campbell earns nothing with an amazing relay split

Yozhik
Reply to  Samesame
5 years ago

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.

bear drinks beer
Reply to  Samesame
5 years ago

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.

Troy
Reply to  bear drinks beer
5 years ago

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.

Yozhik
Reply to  bear drinks beer
5 years ago

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.

Norn Iron swim
Reply to  Samesame
5 years ago

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.

Brownish
Reply to  Norn Iron swim
5 years ago

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. 😉

anonymoose
5 years ago

wait didnt xu jiayu win both the mens 100 and 200 back? then he should have gotten 20k $, not 10k like in the list

Joe
5 years ago

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.

Yozhik
Reply to  Joe
5 years ago

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 »

Sharkspeed
Reply to  Yozhik
5 years ago

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

Yozhik
Reply to  Sharkspeed
5 years ago

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 »

Brownish
Reply to  Yozhik
5 years ago

Most of your questions have been answered already by others and me, too. Please read it once. Thanks.

Yozhik
Reply to  Brownish
5 years ago

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 »

Brownish
Reply to  Yozhik
5 years ago

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.

swimfan01
5 years ago

MA has 5 events tomorrow

E Gamble
5 years ago

Make that money Michael Andrew. ☺

Steve
5 years ago

Katinka rules!

Yozhik
5 years ago

@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.

Teddy
5 years ago

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?

Troy
Reply to  Teddy
5 years ago

4 swimmers is cheaper than 8. I assume their expenses are paid for.

About Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant is the mother of four daughters, all of whom swam in college. With an undergraduate degree from Princeton (where she was an all-Ivy tennis player) and an MBA from INSEAD, she worked for many years in the financial industry, both in France and the U.S. Anne is currently …

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