The French Open released its official media kit on Friday, which includes a listing of swimmers slated to be in attendance at the meet. The list is chock full of big names, including Hungarian Katinka Hosszu, Brazilian sprint star Cesar Cielo and Australia’s missile James Magnussen.
The meet is scheduled to take place over two very busy days on July 4th and 5th. Each day features 16 events, with prelims in the morning, a flight of B finals at night and the big show – all the A finals – coming after that.
The delegations look outstanding, as this meet will be a who’s-who of great international swim stars. Magnussen leads an Aussie team that includes Matt Abood and Emma McKeon. Cielo will compete for Brazil alongside Thiago Pereira and a number of others, and Hosszu leads a 4-person Hungarian team of herself, training partner David Verraszto, Evelyn Verrasto and Laszlo Cseh.
Some more notable names from the listings:
- Germany’s squad includes Markus and Steffen Deibler, plus breaststroker Marco Koch
- 4 Canadians will make the trip across the Atlantic, led by distance man Ryan Cochrane and backstroker Hilary Caldwell
- Italy is bringing a sizable 12-person squad, headlined by Luca Dotto and Fabio Scozzoli
- Obviously, the host country is a major player in terms of entries. Camille Lacourt, Florent Manaudou, Jeremy Stravius, Charlotte Bonnet, Camille Muffat and Coralie Balmy are some of the headlining names for the French delegation
- On a list of countries and nationalities, it’s interesting yet fitting to see “New York Athletic Club” listed as a team. That is, of course, for former Russian national Arkady Vyatchanin who is still without a country to represent while training and competing in the U.S.
- Inge Dekker and Ranomi Kromowidjojo lead in the Dutch crew and should help load up the women’s sprint races
You can view the full media kit (in its original French) here. The athlete rosters begin on page 5.
If what cielo told after Maria Lenk is true.. we can expect a new WR Textile on 50 free…
Excited to see what Koch can do at 200 breast here, so far he has had some really impressive in-season times and i think he could be in the top 5 by points at the end of the meet. From Steffen and Markus Deibler i dont expect much, maybe Steffen can swim below 52.00 in the 100 fly and maybe Markus can swim below 2.00.00 in the 200 IM.
Markus will have Pereira and Cseh on 200 IM.. let´s see who will go all out of these three.. the more the better..
Is there prize money for this meet? I know this is Arkady’s taper meet for the season. If I were him and still nationless, I’d use my taper on the meet that has the biggest payout for performance.
The prize money system will reward the 5 most valuable swimmers (male and female) according to the ranking by FINA points (FINA quotation table).
If a swimmer (male or female) is ranked more than once within the top 5, only his/her best swim will be considered. In case of tie, the swimmers will share the prizes.
Prize money:
1st. 10000 €
2nd. 7500 €
3rd. 4000 €
4th. 2000 €
5th. 1000 €
For a world record: 10000 €
For a European record: 5000 €
For a meet record: 1000 €
BIG money at this meet. No idea where it comes from, but once upon a time Phelps got $100,000 just to show up.
(BLAST FROM THE PAST WARNING – this is an article archived from The Swimmers’ Circle): http://swimswam.com/phelps-lands-huge-appearance-fee-to-compete-in-paris-open/
So here’s another interesting question: Arkady has the European record at 1:54.75. If he breaks the record (which is very likely based on his in-season performances), does he get the bonus for the European record, and will it register with FINA as the European record? Is he still technically representing RUS for LEN/FINA record purposes?
The European record 200bk is held by R Kawecki POL Silver in BCN13 1:54.24 – but still pending LEN approval ?
Well, even though he isn’t representing the Russian Swimming Federation, I’m sure he hasn’t given up his Russian citizenship! Surely FINA would recognize his record on that basis, and why would Russia complain?
There’s probably less money than before. The meet has lost last year it’s main sponsor EDF (French public industry, world biggest electricity producer and supplier). But EDF remains partner with the French swimming federation.
So far, Vuatchanin has not official m’y competed for any other country than RUS and has not applied for any other country with FINA if I am right. So he is still RUS, or does anybody have an other clue?
Little correction.
The meet is on July 4th and 5th.
Hosszu is entered in 13 events! 😆
As you mentioned it, that’s funny to see the country they gave to Vyatchanin. New York Athletic Club.