2020 PRO SWIM SERIES – DES MOINES
- March 4-7, 2020
- Des Moines, Iowa
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Info
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
It’s a backstroker’s world; we just live in it.
Backstrokers Ryan Murphy and Regan Smith lead the 2020 Pro Swim Series as the Des Moines stop produced 16 of the top 20 swims of the Pro Swim Series season in FINA points.
Smith already led the series by a pretty-much-insurmountable margin. In fact, after her 986-point 100 back swim in Knoxville, we did some fun math to project just how improbable it would be that anyone could beat that swim over the rest of the tour. Des Moines proved us right, as even a 15:29 mile from Katie Ledecky and a 4:32 IM from Melanie Margalis didn’t even come close to unseating Smith for the series lead.
Smith’s point value actually did fall, though: to herself. Smith went 58.18 in the 100 back, upping her series-leading swim to 990 FINA points.
On the men’s side, we’ve seen shakeups in the series leader with every stop. Murphy went 52.79 in the 100 back to move to #1, and the five fastest swims of the series so far took place in Des Moines. Murphy’s 947-point backstroke leads – that’s exactly how many FINA points it took to win the series in 2019.
The winners will take home the $10,000 series title.
TOP FINA POINT SWIMS – 2019-2020 PRO SWIM SERIES
Note: we’re using the 2019 FINA Power Points tables (here and here) – USA Swimming has confirmed that it will use 2019 power points for the whole series to maintain consistency, rather than switching to the 2020 points midway through the series.
WOMEN:
| Rank | Athlete | FINA Points | Time | Event | Meet |
| 1 | Regan Smith | 990 | 58.18 | 100 Back | Des Moines |
| 2 | Regan Smith | 986 | 58.27 | 100 Back | Knoxville |
| 3 | Katie Ledecky | 971 | 15:29.51 | 1500 Free | Des Moines |
| 3 | Kathleen Baker | 971 | 58.56 | 100 Back | Des Moines |
| 5 | Katie Ledecky | 960 | 3:59.66 | 400 Free | Des Moines |
| 6 | Katie Ledecky | 958 | 1:54.59 | 200 Free | Des Moines |
| 7 | Phoebe Bacon | 956 | 58.86 | 100 Back | Knoxville |
| 8 | Regan Smith | 955 | 2:05.94 | 200 Back | Knoxville |
| 9 | Regan Smith | 950 | 2:06.16 | 200 Back | Des Moines |
| 10 | Annie Lazor | 946 | 2:21.67 | 200 Breast | Des Moines |
Men:
| Rank | Athlete | FINA Points | Time | Event | Meet |
| 1 | Ryan Murphy | 947 | 52.79 | 100 Back | Des Moines |
| 2 | Caeleb Dressel | 936 | 50.92 | 100 Fly | Des Moines |
| 3 | Michael Andrew | 929 | 1:56.83 | 200 IM | Des Moines |
| 4 | Nic Fink | 927 | 2:09.87 | 200 Breast | Des Moines |
| 5 | Caeleb Dressel | 918 | 21.51 | 50 Free | Des Moines |
| 6 | Will Licon | 917 | 2:10.34 | 200 Breast | Knoxville |
| 7 | Ryan Murphy | 916 | 1:55.22 | 200 Back | Des Moines |
| 8 | Michael Andrew | 914 | 51.33 | 100 Fly | Des Moines |
| 9 | Jacob Heidtmann | 901 | 4:12.40 | 400 IM | Des Moines |
| 10 | Michael Andrew | 900 | 59.14 | 100 Breast | Des Moines |
FFS FINA POINTS AREN’T EVEN HARD TO CALCULATE IT’S LITERALLY JUST A PERCENTAGE OF THE WORLD RECORD SWIM CAN WE USE UP TO DATE WORLD RECORDS!!!!
ALSO RANKING SWIMS THIS WAY IS STUPID IMO!
If it’s stupid, how do you suppose they be ranked? I like 50FREE’s idea:
“For this to be fair, FINA points would have to be calculated from something other than the world records. Maybe an average of the top 10 times in the world last year?”
Other than that I cant see another way of ranking the swims. Otherwise, it becomes subjective.
Remember Regan Smith’s reaction when she learned she could not keep her WR bonuses from the WC’s last year? She felt she had “earned [those bonuses], which of course she did, & amazingly so. I believe her father made some comments as well. Wonder if she is still considering Stanford after all, or maybe do a Katie or a Missy?
For this to be fair, FINA points would have to be calculated from something other than the world records. Maybe an average of the top 10 times in the world last year?
I Kinda feel bad for MA on this list. He had a spectacular 100 breast and 200 im but since the WR in both are so untouchable (no one besides phelps and lochte under 1:55 in the 2 IM and no one being under 58, let alone 57, in the 100 breast besides peaty), he doesnt rank that high based on fina points.
Is there a men and a women’s prize or only 1?
The top woman and top man get a $10,000 prize.
does the prize go to second place if she stays amateur. I forgot what you guys do it this situation
It looks like based off of series rules, the award goes to the highest eligible swimmer – so at this point, the $10,000 would fall to Ledecky, assuming Smith continues to maintain her amateurism.
Except that Regan Smith doesn’t get any of it, I don’t think. I think it’s a dumb rule making this artificial amateur/pro distinction. I can see having a rule for younger swimmers, say, under 21, but even there I would award them money but require it to be put in some kind of trust until they turn 21.
Athletes can accept prize money up to covering the actual costs of their training and competition for the year.
While I think it’s improbable that she’ll get to keep all of her PSS money, she will be able to take a big chunk of it.