Hosszu all but wraps up Grand Prix points championship, Dwyer, Vyatchanin top men

With just one stop left on the Arena Grand Prix Series, the women’s points race has all but wrapped up after another dominating Katinka Hosszu weekend, while the men’s battle is just starting to heat up.

Hosszu put up another 30 points in Charlotte over the weekend to surge out to a convincing lead at 57. It’s only her second Grand Prix event, but she’s been wildly successful at the meets she’s chosen to attend.

Conor Dwyer has been the men’s leader for awhile now, but with Yannick Agnel falling away some after Charlotte, its looking like Dwyer’s biggest competition will be backstroker Arkady Vyatchanin, who had an outstanding weekend.

A quick refresher: the Grand Prix series doles out prize money to the top 3 finishers in each event. The winner takes $500, second place $300 and third $100. In addition, athletes earn points for a running total throughout the circuit’s six stops, with the high-point winner on the men’s and women’s sides receiving a yearlong lease of a brand-new BMW. The points correlate with the prize money – 5 for first, 3 for second, 1 for third, so the points standings also double as a “top money-earners” list.

That means in just two meets (Orlando and Charlotte), Hosszu has earned $5700 for her efforts. The Hungarian’s tendency to take on every event possible (and her near-superhuman ability to swim brutal doubles without major fatigue) seem to make her a natural for the Grand Prix’s format.

Dwyer, too, has built his success on versatility, scoring points along the way in both IM distances as well as freestyle races ranging from the sprint 100 to the mid-distance 400 (and 500 at the short course Minneapolis Grand Prix). But at 46 for the circuit, he’s just 4 points ahead of former Russian Olympian Vyatchanin.

The backstroke specialist has put himself in the conversation through consistency. Vyatchanin has competed at all 5 of the Grand Prix’s stops, scoring in the 100 and 200 back without fail. And as of late, he’s been on a tear, sweeping those two distances at the past three Grand Prix events, Charlotte, Mesa and Orlando.

It’s worth pointing out that the BMW prize can only go to an American citizen, so it would appear Hosszu and Vyatchanin wouldn’t be eligible. But the series championship is as much about pride and competitiveness as it is about prizes, and there’s no doubt all involved will be gunning full steam for the top spots.

Here’s an update of the entire Grand Prix points standings. Though Hosszu seems a lock for the women (it would take more than 4 wins at Santa Clara for any of the field to catch her), Megan Romano looks like a possibility for the BMW lease, as the prize goes to the highest-placing eligible athlete. Romano is second with 34.5 points.

Women’s Points

TOTAL
Katinka Hosszu 57
Megan Romano 34.5
Allison Schmitt 29
Caitlin Leverenz 29
Katie Ledecky 28
Micah Lawrence 25
Becca Mann 22
Lotte Friis 19
Claire Donahue 17
Alia Atkinson 16
Jessica Hardy 16
Audrey Lacroix 14
Hilary Caldwell 13
Kiera Janzen 13
Kierra Smith 13
Amanda Weir 12
Chloe Sutton 12
Laura Sogar 12
Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace 11.5
Katerine Savard 11
Elizabeth Simmonds 10
Fernanda Gonzalez Ramirez 10
Cheyenne Coffman 8
Gillian Ryan 8
Haley Spencer 8
Kathleen Baker 8
Tess Behrens 8
Elizabeth Beisel 7
Natalie Coughlin 7
Rebecca Weiland 7
Clara Smiddy 6
Katie Hoff 6
Katie McLaughlin 6
Megan Kingsley 6
Noemie Thomas 6
Simone Manuel 6
Madison Kennedy 6
Victoria Poon 5
Sveta Khakhlova 5
Ashley Steenvoorden 4
Dominique Bouchard 4
Isabella Rongione 4
Tori Siminec 4
Ali DeLoof 4
Melanie Margalis 4
Katie Meili 3.5
Agnes Mutina 3
Amanda Kendall 3
Andreina Pinto 3
Ashlyn Schoof 3
Karlee Bispo 3
Lauren Votava 3
Remedy Rule 3
Samantha Harding 3
Vien Nguyen 3
Molly Hannis 3
Kelsi Worrell 3
Breeja Larson 2
Courtney Harnish 2
Stina Gardell 2
Leah Smith 2
Kristel Vourna 2
Emily McClellan 1.5
Breanne Siwicki 1
Erin Caflisch 1
Justine Bowker 1
Laura Day 1
Madison Homovich 1
Marne Erasmus 1
Mickayla Hinkle 1
Rachel Nicol 1
Sandrine Mainville 1
Savannah King 1
Kate Mills 1
Hannah Moore 1

 

Men’s Points

TOTAL
Conor Dwyer 46
Arkady Vyatchanin 42
Michael McBroom 33
Yannick Agnel 31
Tyler Clary 27
Mike Alexandrov 24
Cesar Cielo 21
Nathan Adrian 20
David Verraszto 15
Connor Jaeger 15
Tom Luchsinger 14
BJ Johnson 13
Darian Townsend 13
Ryan Lochte 13
David Plummer 12
Adam Brown 11.5
Ross Murdoch 10
Albert Subirats 10
Andrew Seliskar 10
Michael Klueh 10
Bruno Fratus 9
Junya Koga 9
Michael Weiss 8
Matt Grevers 8
Joseph Schooling 8
Matt McLean 8
Michael Phelps 8
Ryan Murphy 7
Anthony Ervin 7
Brad Craig 7
Chase Kalisz 7
Ous Mellouli 6
Tom Shields 6
Yannick Lebherz 6
Josh Schneider 6
Roland Schoeman 6
Jimmy Feigen 5
Ryan Cochrane 5
Sean Mahoney 5
Anton McKee 5
Thiago Pereira 5
Damir Dugonjic 5
Jorge Murillo Valdes 5
Josh Prenot 4
Andy Arteta 4
Brendan McHugh 4
Jakub Maly 4
Carlos Almeida 3
Eetu Karvonen 3
Eric Hedlin 3
Eugene Godsoe 3
Felipe Lima 3
Jacob Pebley 3
Kyler Van Swol 3
Melquiades Alvarez Caraballo 3
Ryan Harty 3
Dylan Bosch 3
Pavel Sankovich 3
Azad Al-Barazi 3
Kevin Cordes 3
Bobby Bollier 2
Jason Dunford 2
Kristian Gkolomeev 2
Andres Olvera Alejos 1
Austin Surhoff 1
Dan Lester 1
Daryl Turner 1
Dion Dreesens 1
Evan White 1
Guillermo Blanco 1
Luis Martinez 1
Nikita Lobintsev 1
Pedro Oliviera 1
Ryan Feeley 1
Scott Weltz 1
Anders Nielsen 1
Omar Pinzon 1
Sean Ryan 1
Shane Ryan 1
Carl Mickelson 1
Liam Egan 1
Miguel Ortiz 0.5

 

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About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson swam for nearly twenty years. Then, Jared Anderson stopped swimming and started writing about swimming. He's not sick of swimming yet. Swimming might be sick of him, though. Jared was a YMCA and high school swimmer in northern Minnesota, and spent his college years swimming breaststroke and occasionally pretending …

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