The 2024 Short Course World Championships, in all their chaotic glory, kick off this week in Budapest. And of course, that can only mean one thing–the SwimSwam Pick’Em contest is now live!
Do you think you’ve got an eye for who will bring the best form to Budapest after a busy year? Maybe you’ve got a couple of names of rising stars circled on the psych sheet because you think they will take advantage of the long list of absences and have a breakthrough meet. If so, then it’s time to put your predictions to the test in the Pick’Ems.
CLICK HERE TO ENTER
Need some inspiration? Check out the SwimSwam official preview index here. The index updates each time a new preview goes live.
Now for the fine print…
Scoring System
Correctly picking a swimmer to place:
- 1st – 11 points
- 2nd – 9 points
- 3rd – 7 points
- 4th – 6 points
Correctly picking a swimmer to place but putting them in the wrong position will earn you one point.
Picks will close shortly before the meet begins on Tuesday, Dec. 10. Once the Pick’Em is closed, we will post the picks so that you can track your entries throughout the competition.
You may go in and edit your responses up until the Pick’Em closes. Swimmers have withdrawn and event lineups have changed since the psych sheet dropped, so it’s worth doubling checking to make sure the swimmer you want to pick is still entered in the meet.
One other note–neutral countries are allowed to swim relays. On the psych sheet, the neutral relays are as ‘A’, ‘B’, or ‘C’ to differentiate between countries. ‘A’ stands for a Belarusian relay, ‘B’ for a Russian relay, and ‘C’ for a Mexican relay.
If necessary, the tie-breaker for prizes will be the most correctly-picked winners in the relevant time period, then 2nd-place finishers, then 3rd-place finishers, etc. in the relevant time period.
OFFICIAL RULES
Anybody is eligible to play but only certain people are eligible for prizes. Only one entry per person is allowed. If we discover that you have made multiple entries, we may disqualify all of your entries.
To win prizes, entrant must:
- Be 18 or older
- Accept responsibility for any and all taxes
- Accept responsibility for any impact on high school or college eligibility
- Be a legal resident of the United States or Canada (prizes will only be mailed to these countries)
- Must enter contest using their real name
- No purchase is required for entry
- Agree to allow SwimSwam to provide their personal information to a sponsor in order to distribute prizes
PRIZES
The Pick ‘Em has always been about bragging rights, but let’s be real, a prize is good too. Daily winners for this summer’s Pick’Ems will receive a one-year subscription to the SwimSwam magazine. The Grand Prize is a $100 credit for the SwimSwam swag store, plus the year’s subscription to SwimSwam magazine.
Winners will be contacted at the conclusion of the contest.
Time to wing it.
stuck with where to put weinstein. her consistently inconsistent swims make her so unpredictable.
ah sandpipers
That moment when you realized you missed some big names seeded with LCM times…
Picking the relays is causing me physical pain.
Same. Ended up just going eeny meeny miny moe so I’m sure I’ll do amazingly.
My strategy was US/AUS/CAN/CHN for every women’s relay but I eeny meeny miny moe-ed the men’s relays too lmao.
Although in hindsight that was stoopid for the women’s 4×200 free relay, because I have zero idea who will swim in the US relay. Oh well.
I picked USA/ NAB (aka Russia but we should pretend we don’t know)/ ITA for every men’s relay podium.
Think Australia will be on the podium in the 4×2. Reckon their best team will be Giuliani Sommerville Winnington Temple.
I think I actually picked the AUS men’s relays to win quite a few medals. The Italian team really isn’t that strong here (or at least they weren’t very good during the world cup series apart from Ceccon, who isn’t here).
Ceccon isn’t great in short course anyway, they have Mora and co.
But you guys are right. AUS 4×200 does look good. I just didn’t want to spend time thinking about potential line-ups for each team so I just picked the three teams who send the largest number of male swimmers.
No, you are right, we are all just talking out of our behinds at this point.
Shackell, A Walsh, Weinstein, Grimes, Madden
I’m scared to play this one because whoever I pick might drop out of the meet
Picking to 4th place is a challenge for this championships.
I’m in for my first full Pick’em submission!
RIP everyone who picks Leon Marchand and other drop outs