Relay Lineups for Shenzen Stop of FINA Champions Series Announced

Relay teams for Shenzen, the first of two meets in the 2020 FINA Champions Series, have been drawn and published.

• See full 2020 series details here.
• Entry Lists
• Prize Money
• Meet 1: January 14th-15th, Shenzen, China
• Meet 2: January 18th-19th, Beijing, China

Athletes interested in relays submitted applications and names were drawn to each team after the technical meeting on Monday. Athletes then have up until an hour before the start of the session to submit their final relay orders.

Each winning relay team will share $16,000, 2nd place will share $12,000, 3rd place will share $8,000, and 4th place will share $6,000. This means that by being drawn, athletes are guaranteed to make at least $1,500 in prize money.

Mixed 400 Free Relay

Team Andrew:

• Michael Andrew (USA)
• Pieter Timmers (Belgium)
• Sydney Pickrem (Canada)
• Wang Jianjiahe (China)

Team Kostin:

• Oleg Kostin (Russia)
• Xu Jiayu (China)
• Fu Yuanhui (China)
• Boglarka Kapas (Hungary)

Team Kenderesi:

• Tamas Kenderesi (Hungary)
• Zach Harting (USA)
• Femke Heemskerk (Netherlands)
• Svetlana Chimrova (Russia)

Team Pebley:

• Jacob Pebley (USA)
• Andrii Govorov (Ukraine)
• Ranomi Kromowidjojo (Netherlands)
• Siobhan Haughey (Hong Kong)

With most of the top male sprinters at the meet, including Vlad Morozov, Marcelo Chirighini, Andrei Minakov, and Danas Rapsys, not participating in the 400 free relay, the event is wide open with no one team having an obvious advantage.

Mixed 400 Medley Relay

Team Hulkko:

• Backstroke: Matt Grevers (USA)
• Breaststroke: Ida Hulkko (Finland)
• Butterfly: Tamas Kenderesi (Hungary)
• Freestyle: Siobhan Haughey (Hong Kong)

Team Di Liddo:

• Backstroke: Apostolos Christou (Greece)
• Breaststroke: Yan Zibei (China)
• Butterfly: Elena di Liddo (Italy)
• Freestyle: Ajna Kesely (Hungary)

Team Liu:

• Backstroke: Liu Yaxin (China)
• Breaststroke: Felipe Lima (Brazil)
• Butterfly: Nicholas Santos (Brazil)
• Freestyle: Femke Heemskerk (Netherlands)

Team Hannis:

• Backstroke: Michael Andrew (USA)
• Breaststroke: Molly Hannis (USA)
• Butterfly: Svetlana Chimrova (Russia)
• Freestyle: Anthony Ervin (USA)

Again, many of the biggest names at the meet are missing. With Michael Andrew, Molly Hannis, who was very successful in last year’s champions series, and Svetlana Chimrova, “Team Hannis” has the beginnings of a very good 400 medley relay, but their 38-year old anchor Anthony Ervin hasn’t been better than 51.2 in a 100 meter freestyle (long course) since 2017 – and his most recent time was a 54.4. Team Liu has 4 very good swimmers, but all of them specialize in a different distance of their respective strokes.