Hungary’s top three swimming stars, Katinka Hosszu, Daniel Gyurta and Laszlo Cseh, have made the decision to bypass the Duel in the Pool in favour of the Salnikov Cup.
The three superstars were invited to both events, but since the dates are conflicting, the Salnikov Cup will go from December 20th to 21st while the Duel in the Pool will go from December 21st to 22nd, the Hungarians choose to accept Salnikov’s offer.
The Salnikov Cup, which will be held in St. Petersburg, has always been a competition that has seen many of the world’s best compete for prize money. Vladimir Salnikov, the legendary distance swimmer, who is now the President of the Russian Swimming Federation traditionally sends out 250 invitations to the many of the top ranked swimmers across the globe.
In the 2012 event Russian stars such as Vlad Morozov, Stanislav Donets, Viatcheslav Sinkevich, Nikita Lobintsev and Veronika Popova were joined by many international athletes such as Jessica Hardy, Mads Glaesner, Aliaksandra Herasimenia, Robert Hurley, Roland Schoeman, Hannah Miley, George Bovell and Hungary’s big three.
This year 225 athletes received invitations, which were sent out on October 1st. The invitations included to 200 of the top Russian athletes and 25 foreign athletes.
The prize money offered at the event is as follows (all converted to US dollars):
- Top male and female of the meet – $3,000
- Top three in each event (except the 1500) – 1st – $666 2nd – $500 3rd – $330
- Top three in the 1500 freestyle – 1st – $1,660 2nd – $660 3rd – $500
- European Record – $3,000
- World Record – $10,000
Prize money can also be handed out to performances that the organizing committee feels is deserving.
