FINA has released a second set of 10 swimmers that will participate in the second edition of its FINA Champions Series which begins next week in Shenzen, China.
- See full 2020 series details here.
- Meet 1: January 14th-15th, Shenzen, China
- Meet 2: January 18th-19th, Beijing, China
Included on the list are 3 more Americans: defending 50 free Olympic champion Anthony Ervin, defending 100 and 200 back Olympic champion Ryan Murphy, and 2017 Worlds bronze medalist in the 200 back Jacob Pebley. That makes 5 total Americans committed so far, including backstroker Matt Grevers and sprinter Michael Andrew, who were announced over the weekend.
Out of the 5 Americans committed, all but Ervin are based primarily on the west coast, which makes for a much shorter trip to China than for swimmers based on the east coast. Last year, only 5 Americans (Andrew, Molly Hannis, Kelsi Dahlia, Ervin, and Vollmer) participated in the opening Asian stop of the Champions Series, though more participated in the European (Budapest) and American (Indianapolis) stops.
Latest 10 Announced Swimmers:
- Anthony Ervin, USA
- Femke Heemskerk, Netherlands
- Andrii Govorov, Ukraine
- Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Netherlands
- Ryosuke Irie, Japan
- Liu Xiang, China
- Radoslaw Kawecki, Poland*
- Jeanette Ottesen, Denmark
- Ryan Murphy, USA
- Jacob Pebley, USA
*Note that FINA’s announcement video has Kawecki listed as a Ukrainian, when he is, in fact, Polish.
Additionally, Italian swimmer Martina Carraro has confirmed to SwimSwam that she, too, will attend the series, bringing the total confirmed participants to 21.
Also included among the latest batch is 50 fly World Record holder Andrii Govorov, who recently returned to competition after he underwent shoulder surgery. Japan’s Ryosuke Irie, a 3-time Olympic medalist, will also attend the meet.
First 10 Announced Swimmers:
- Alia Atkinson, Jamaica
- Marcelo Chierighini, Brazil
- Anna Egorova, Russia
- Dmitriy Balandin, Kazakhstan
- Michelle Coleman, Sweden
- Michael Andrew, United States
- Fu Yuanhui, China
- Nicholas Santos, Brazil
- Katinka Hosszu, Hungary
- Matt Grevers, United States
This brings the meet up to 21 announced swimmers so far, with the men’s backstroke races, the men’s 50 fly, and the women’s 200 free standing out as highlight events so far.
The prize money will be the same as the 2019 series:
- 1st place – $10,000
- 2nd place – $8,000
- 3rd place – $6,000
- 4th place – $5,000
- World Record Bonus – $20,000
This means that at each meet, there will be at least $812,000 in prize money for individual events, plus the addition of possible relays. That’s as compared to $179,400 available per regular season meet in the International Swimming League’s inaugural season (based on individual, not team earnings), which rose to $598,000 for the Las Vegas finale.
Athletes will each also receive an engagement fee for racing.
While we don’t know yet what events that swimmers have been chosen for, Atkinson doesn’t satisfy any of the first 10 selection criteria, implying that FINA has reached into criteria 11, World Championship finalists, to select her. The same is true of Matt Grevers, Michael Andrew, Anna Egorova, and Marcelo Chierighini.
The list includes 2 of the 3 named swimmers, Hosszu and Andrew, who are currently suing FINA.
Athlete Selection Criteria
Event Schedule
Kromo vs Heemskerk vs Coleman must be included in the 50m free (maybe not Heemskerk) and 100m free
Surprised that ISL “ambassadors” like Ryan Murphy and lawsuit plaintiffs like Katinka Hosszu and Michael Andrew would attend these meets. Bad move,
Was there any appearance money as incentive to get these swimmers?
Isn’t 6,000 for being the last in the race an appearance incentive?
“The athletes’ participation in this exclusive Series will be on an invitation-only basis. These swimmers will receive both prize money and appearance fees to attend this prestigious event, and will have all their expenses (travel, accommodation and meals) covered.”
http://www.fina.org/event/fina-champions-swim-series-2020
Sun Yang no 1 swimmer has confirmed
Good to see the prize money going up.
They seem go after the older more experienced athletes then the younger up and comers and personally I would much rather watch Regan Smith and Kolesnikov than these ancients who have been going the same times for 5 years.
someone like Regan Smith is not pro and therefore can not take much of the prize money. She also probably still has her last semester of HS to deal with. FINA is going after the fastest swimmers (see criteria), but those swimmers have to accept the invite.
by the rules they listed above Ervin has first (well second) rights to go in the meet because he got a gold in Rio.
Wish Ervin the best of luck heading towards trials, he’s truly never out of the fight
Not to discount his accomplishments but watching his first 5 meters in this meet last year made me sad. He just doesn’t have that explosiveness that were used to seeing from him. I would be shocked if he got anything other than last at this meet.
He was running marathons/triathlons last year. Don’t think he was working much on his explosiveness. His goal is to make finals at OTs, which is probably a 21.9. Think he might his 22.1.
I’d be shocked if 8 people went 21.9 or better. Adrian, Dressel, Andrew, Chadwick, Held come to mind.
Edit: completely forgot David Curtiss went 21.9 last year. Don’t think Howard and Becker will get there
I could see Howard OR Becker getting there. I don’t think both will hit it at the same time.
Pieroni could get there, if he swims it. But, I bet he’ll focus on the 100 and 200.
Don’t discount Zapple either.