Kaylee McKeown, Qin Haiyang Running Away With World Cup Crowns After Sweeps in Athens

2023 WORLD AQUATICS SWIMMING WORLD CUP – ATHENS

  • Friday, October 13th – Sunday, October 15th
  • Athens, Greece
  • LCM (50m)
  • Prelims 9:00am (EEST)/ 2:oo am (EDT)
  • Finals 6:00 pm (EEST)/ 11:00 am (EDT)
  • Meet Central
  • Entries
  • Live Results

Australian backstroke specialist Kaylee McKeown and Chinese breaststroke ace Qin Haiyang are running away with the World Cup overall crowns — which come with a $100,000 bonus — after pulling off another sweep at the second stop in Athens, Greece.

The 22-year-old McKeown now has a total of 117.7 points combined from the first two World Cup stops, opening up a 7.2-point lead over China’s Zhang Yufei. That’s more than double the 3.4-point margin separating the pair after the first stop in Berlin, Germany.

The 24-year-old Qin has amassed 116.7 points, growing his lead over Italy’s Thomas Ceccon from one points to nearly four.

With his runner-up finish in Athens (56.1 points), South Africa’s Matt Sates jumped from 5th to 3rd in the overall series standings — and he says he did it with a fractured wrist suffered at the end of Friday night’s 100 fly victory. Fellow South African Pieter Coetze placed 5th in Athens, but he didn’t crack the top 20 standings overall because he missed the first stop in Berlin.

The top four on the women’s side are the same as the post-Berlin rankings, with 17-year-old American Katie Grimes leapfrogging 19-year-old New Zealand native Erika Fairweather and 21-year-old Australian Lani Pallister in a tight battle for 5th place.

Check out the full prize money breakdown below with Athens alone as well as the combined overall standings:

Men – Athens World Cup Standings/Prize Money

Rank Swimmer Total Points in Athens Score Points Performance Points Meet Prize Money
1 Qin Haiyang (CHN 58 30 28 $12,000
2 Matt Sates (RSA) 56.10 30 26.1 $10,000
3 Thomas Ceccon (ITA) 55.10 28 27.1 $8,000
4 Michael Andrew (USA) 53.90 28 25.9 $6,000
5 Pieter Coetze (RSA) 52.40 26 26.4 $5,500
6 Danas Rapsys (LTU) 52.30 26 26.3 $5,400
7 Isaac Cooper (AUS) 47.90 22 25.9 $5,300
8 Kieran Smith (USA) 47.80 22 25.8 $5,200
9 Kaito Tabuchi (JPN) 44.80 19 25.8 $5,100
10 Nic Fink (USA) 44.50 18 26.5 $5,000
11 Dylan Carter (TTO) 43.80 18 25.8 $4,900
12 Dimitrios Markos (GRE) 43.40 18 25.4 $4,800
13 Arno Kamminga (NED) 42.60 16 26.6 $4,700
14 Brendon Smith (AUS) 40.40 16 26.6 $4,600
15 Szebasztian Szabo (HUN) 39.00 14 25 $4,500

Men – Overall 2023 World Cup Series Standings (Berlin + Athens)

Rank Swimmer Total Points Total Prize Money
1 Qin Haiyang (CHN) 116.7 $24,000
2 Thomas Ceccon (CHN) 112.8 $18,000
3 Matt Sates (RSA) 110.5 $15,500
4 Michael Andrew (USA) 108.4 $12,000
5 Danas Rapsys (LTU) 107.1 $13,400
6 Isaac Cooper (AUS) 96.1 $10,600
7 Kieran Smith (USA) 91.5 $10,100
8 Arno Kamminga (NED) 90.6 $9,900
9 Nic Fink (USA) 84.8 $9,700
10 Brendon Smith (AUS) 83.4 $9,400
11 Dylan Carter (TTO) 83.1 $9,500
12 Ryosuke Irie (JPN) 81.2 $9,200
13 Trenton Julian (USA) 81.1 $9,300
14 Szebasztian Szabo (HUN) 74.2 $8,800
15 Ben Armbruster (AUS) 74 $5,400
16 Balasz Hollo (HUN) 72.6 $8,600
17 Kaito Tabuchi (JPN) 68.7 $5,100
18 Caspar Corbeau (NED) 65.2 $4,000
19 Nicolo Martinenghi (ITA) 62.2 $4,400
20 Stan Pijnenburg (NED) 59.7 $4,500

Women – Athens World Cup Standings/Prize Money

Rank Swimmer Total Points in Athens Score Points Performance Points Meet Prize Money
1 Kaylee McKeown (AUS) 59.10 30 29.1 $12,000
2 Sarah Sjostrom (SWE) 55.90 28 27.9 $10,000
3 Siobhan Haughey (HKG) 55.80 28 27.8 $8,000
4 Zhang Yufei (CHN) 55.30 28 27.3 $6,000
5 Katie Grimes (USA) 52.10 26 26.1 $5,500
6 Lani Pallister (AUS) 50.00 23 27 $5,400
7 Erika Fairweather (NZL) 48.40 22 26.4 $5,300
8 Torri Huske (USA) 46.70 20 26.7 $5,200
9 Tes Schouten (NED) 46.50 21 25.5 $5,100
10 Kylie Masse (CAN) 45.90 20 25.9 $5,000
11 Sydney Pickrem (CAN) 45.00 19 26 $4,900
12 Jenna Strauch (AUS) 43.50 18 25.5 $4,800
13 Ingrid Wilm (CAN) 42.20 17 25.2 $4,700
14 Sophie Hansson (SWE) 41.50 16 25.5 $4,600
15 Waka Kobori (JPN) 41.50 16 25.5 $4,500

Women – Overall 2023 World Cup Series Standings (Berlin + Athens)

Rank Swimmer Total Points Total Prize Money
1 Kaylee McKeown (AUS) 117.7 $24,000
2 Zhang Yufei (CHN) 110.5 $16,000
3 Siobhan Haughey (HKG) 109.9 $16,000
4 Sarah Sjostrom (SWE) 109.7 $16,000
5 Katie Grimes (USA) 102.6 $10,800
6 Erika Fairweather (NZL) 102 $10,800
7 Lani Pallister (AUS) 101.6 $10,800
8 Torri Huske (USA) 90.9 $10,100
9 Kylie Masse (CAN) 90.9 $10,000
10 Jenna Strauch (AUS) 85.1 $9,400
11 Ingrid Wilm (CAN) 83.5 $9,200
12 Sydney Pickrem (CAN) 82.5 $9,000
13 Tes Schouten (NED) 79.5 $5,100
14 Cate Campbell (AUS) 77.2 $5,100
15 Marrit Steenbergen (NED) 73.4 $8,000
16 Ruta Meilutyte (LTU) 70.2 $4,100
17 Maaike de Waard (NED) 70.1 $4,200
18 Ageha Tanigawa (JPN) 65.5 $4,200
19 Waka Kobori (JPN) 65.4 $4,500
20 Alexandria Perkins (AUS) 58

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Chris
1 year ago

such crap money for such a great and difficult sport.

The unoriginal Tim
1 year ago

So over two stops only 20 men/19 women earned money.

Do the swimmers get expenses for travel accomodation if invited to the World Cup?

Admin
Reply to  The unoriginal Tim
1 year ago

I couldn’t find the documentation for this year’s travel costs, but historically yes there are travel costs covered based on a swimmer’s international achievements. Sometimes athletes can negotiate for additional cost coverage with meet hosts.

Nick the biased Aussie
Reply to  Braden Keith
1 year ago

Nothing public except for discounted accommodation and free transfers from the pool to the hotel and airport.

Joshua Liendo-Edwards-Smith
1 year ago

Slaylee GOATKeown

stefe
Reply to  Joshua Liendo-Edwards-Smith
1 year ago

You’ll upset the violet lovers on here.

Lap Counter
1 year ago

I am a bit confused. Does this total include prize money for each race too? Qin won $12k overall bonus at each city so bonus is $24k. But what about his earnings for each50-100-200 win? Am I missing something?

Admin
Reply to  Lap Counter
1 year ago

There is no prize money for winning a race anymore (unless you win that same event at all three meets).

Lap Counter
Reply to  Braden Keith
1 year ago

Thanks Braden! I missed that change this year!

About Riley Overend

Riley is an associate editor interested in the stories taking place outside of the pool just as much as the drama between the lane lines. A 2019 graduate of Boston College, he arrived at SwimSwam in April of 2022 after three years as a sports reporter and sports editor at newspapers …

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