2023 WORLD AQUATICS SWIMMING WORLD CUP – BUDAPEST
- Friday, October 20th – Sunday, October 22nd
- Budapest, Hungary
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- Entries
- Live Results
With one day remaining in the 2023 World Cup series, Kaylee McKeown and Matt Sates sit atop the overall series rankings. Winning the World Cup overall crowns comes with a $100,000 bonus.
The 22-year-old McKeown has been in control of the women’s standings since the first stop in Berlin and consolidated her lead in Athens, pulling off backstroke sweeps at both stops. So far in Budapest, she’s 2-for-2 in Triple Crowns, earning them both with new world record times in the 50 back (26.86) and 100 back (57.33)
She leads with a total of 157.8 points after picking up 40.1 points through two days of racing in Budapest. Sarah Sjostrom sits in 2nd place with a total of 148.4 points, 9.4 points behind McKeown.
Top 5 Overall Women’s World Cup Rankings (1 Day to Go)
| Ranking | Swimmer | Total Points | Points Earned Thru 2 Days in Budapest |
| 1 | Kaylee McKeown (AUS) | 157.8 | 40.1 |
| 2 | Sarah Sjostrom (SWE) | 148.4 | 38.7 |
| 3 | Siobhan Haughey (HKG) | 146.8 | 36.9 |
| 4 | Zhang Yufei (CHN) | 146.6 | 36.1 |
| 5 | Erika Fairweather (NZL) | 136.4 | 34.4 |
If all goes to plan, Sjostrom will have two finals on Day 3 (100 fly, 100 free), to McKeown and Siobhan Haughey‘s 1. McKeown has opted out of the 200 IM in Budapest, an event she raced in Berlin and Athens, presumably to focus on the 200 backstroke. In Athens, Haughey tried the 50 breast/100 free double but has gone back to only the 100 free on Day 3 in Budapest.
McKeown has proven herself to be on excellent form in Budapest, but an extra race could potentially give Sjostrom the edge to push past McKeown in the standings; at least, it gives her another opportunity to match the high level McKeown has been performing at throughout the Cup.
On the men’s side, there’s been a major shakeup, as Matt Sates has taken over the lead. Qin Haiyang held the lead through the first two stops, winning the 1st place prize at both the Berlin and Athens meets, courtesy of his breaststroke sweeps.
But with one day remaining, Sates has passed Qin in the standings. On Day 2 in Budapest, Sates completed Triple Crowns in both the 200 IM and 200 fly, which is what did the damage. Qin completed his own Triple Crown in the 50 breast but through two days Sates has outscored Qin by 15.4 points.
Top 5 Overall Men’s World Cup Rankings (1 Day to Go)
| Ranking | Swimmer | Total Points | Points Earned Thru 2 Days in Budapest |
| 1 | Matt Sates (RSA) | 164.9 | 54.4 |
| 2 | Qin Haiyang (CHN) | 155.8 | 39.1 |
| 3 | Michael Andrew (USA) | 155.6 | 47.2 |
| 4 | Thomas Ceccon (ITA) | 148.5 | 35.7 |
| 5 | Danas Rapsys (LTU) | 136.9 | 29.8 |
Crowns Update
On Day 2, every swimmer eligible for a Triple Crown claimed it, earning the right to sit in the throne and literally be crowned. It was a busy session, with six Triple Crowns won in a row.
The Day 2 winners were Michael Andrew (50 back), Siobhan Haughey (200 free), Sates (200 IM/200 fly), McKeown (100 back), Qin (50 breast), Sjostrom (50 fly) and Thomas Ceccon (100 free).
On the final day of competition there are still more Triple Crowns up for grabs. McKeown and Qin will both try to complete their Triple Crown sweeps in their respective backstroke and breaststroke events. Ceccon (100 back), Haughey (100 free), Danas Rapsys (200 free), Zhang Yufei (100 fly), and Lani Pallister (women’s distance) also aim for Triple Crowns of their own. There was a rumor that Ruta Meilutyte is ill, but she’s still entered in the 50 breaststroke on Day 3, so she could also make a bid for her Triple Crown.
Interesting how they do the FINA points. Ben Proud only got 886 points for swimming a 21.77 50free. This would have gotten him 6th place if he had swum it at worlds.
Meanwhile 48.71 in the 100 free gets you 890 points, 3:48.64 in the 400free gets you 891 points, and 15:04 in the 1500free gets you 891 points, 2:10.55 in the 200breast gets you 897 points.
I’m sure everyone would consider a 21.77 50 free to be more impressive than any of those other higher points scoring swims
I agree.
There was a meet in Australia every year (before covid) called State Teams. The winner of the “swim of the meet” was always a distance swimmer due to how the points work. Despite there being other better swims.
FINA points are based purely on the world record, and given out based on how far away you were by %.
21.77 is 104.11% of the 50 free world record. 48.71 is 103.94% of the 100 free world record, and therefore worth more points.
But yes, it means for events like W200 fly where the record is really far off actual current competitive times, the points don’t really reflect what is considered the best.
Finished the series with 9 World Cup records in her 9 backstroke races (and two world records to make it 3/3 backstroke events for the year). Won the series with 177.3 out of a possible 180, 11 points clear of her nearest competitor, and 186k USD in prize money. Her margin of victories (>2.5s over 100m in Athens) were crazy when you consider that Masse is a former world champion in the 50 and 100, the former was as recently as last year
Sates always cleans up at these types of meets and then poops his pants on the big stage
The problem is that his winning times at these meets aren’t even close to the podium in the real thing
His 1:55s in the 200fly are pretty impressive considering they’ve been 30 mins after a 200IM win. Properly rested you’d think he’d be able to swim 1:53 high
WR should give extra points. If Kaylee DQ’s in the 200 backstroke is unfair to loose the overall race for World Cup queen. WR extra points would mitigate that.
This point system isn’t too fan-friendly
Why would she DQ in the 200 back?
McKeown easily takes the 100k, Haughey and Zhang will fight it out for 2nd, and Sjostrom likely falls to 4th. Haughey and Zhang are both less than 2 points behind and they’ll make it up with a win tomorrow. It’s unlikely Sjostrom can beat either of them in a 100. Haughey is probably on track for a second place finish (assuming she goes 51.9-52.1) unless Zhang can match or beat 55.6.
Author has misunderstood the points system. Only your top 3 races count. McKeown and Qin are so far ahead that they would both likely still win even if they failed to medal in their final event.
Sjostrom has 2 races left, but only 1 will give her points. You get 20 points for tying a world record. So if we assume Sjostrom ties the world record in one of her events, Kaylee would still win as long as she swims about a 2:13 in the final. There’s zero chance Kaylee is going that slow so a DQ is basically all that can stop her.
Same with Qin. Sates is ahead because he’s already used his 3 scoring races. Ceccon is… Read more »
I wouldn’t call Sub13 a casual reader….
Only the best 3 events count so Sarah swimming an extra event has little benefit to her overall score. No one is touching Kaylee in the overall.
“McKeown has proven herself to be on excellent form in Budapest, but an extra race could potentially give Sjostrom the edge to push past McKeown in the standings.“
Sjostrom could smash both her WR and McKeown just needs to not get DQ to win the 100k. Given Katie grimes is not even swimming, Kaylee could swim a 2:13 (10s slower than her WR from March) and grab 3rd in the 200back
“But with one day remaining, Sates has passed Qin in the standings. On Day 2 in Budapest, Sates completed Triple Crowns in both the 200 IM and 200 fly, which is what did the damage. Qin completed his own Triple Crown in the 50 breast but through two days… Read more »