Who Made The Most Money at the Swimming World Cup in Singapore and Overall?

2024 WORLD AQUATICS SWIMMING WORLD CUP – SINGAPORE

Several athletes walked away from the final stop of the 2024 World Cup with major bonuses. On the women’s side, Kate Douglass claimed the top spot overall over American teammate Regan Smith, taking home the $12,000 prize. In Singapore, Douglass also broke the World Record in the 200 breaststroke for the second time in a week, earning an additional $10,000 en route to sweeping the event across the series, claiming another $10,000 Triple Crown bonus. Besides the 200 breast, Douglass also swept the 100 IM and 50 butterfly, earning another $20,000.

With Douglass taking 2/3 stops on the series, she also claimed the $100,000 bonus for leading the overall series point rankings. Combined with her previous earnings, she’s walking away from the series with a huge $184,000 paycheck.

Smith also claimed two World Record and two Triple Crown bonuses in Singapore, winning both the 100 and 200 backstroke in record-breaking fashion. With her previous earnings and $70,000 runner-up bonus, she will walk away from the series with $152,000.

On the men’s side, Leon Marchand opened a large gap over Noe Ponti on the final stop of the series to secure the title in Singapore and the overall series points title. Like Douglass, Marchand won 2/3 of the stops on the series en route to a $100,000 series bonus. He also secured an additional $10,000 for cracking Ryan Lochte’s World Record in the 200 IM and $30,000 in Triple Crown bonuses for sweeping the 100, 200, and 400 IM across the series. Overall, Marchand will walk away from the World Cup with $174,000 in earnings in one of his first outings as a pro.

Despite breaking the 50 butterfly World Record twice, Noe Ponti fell short of winning the series title. However, with $20,000 in World Record bonuses and $20,000 in Triple Crown bonuses, plus an additional $70,000 for finishing as the runner-up, Ponti ends the series with $142,000 in earnings.

In accordance with the latest structure of the World Cup, the top 20 athletes for both genders will take home prize money from their performance in Singapore. In addition, several athletes earned additional money, known as the Triple Crown bonus, for sweeping their events across all 3 World Cup stops, including:

Each of these swimmers will take home an additional $10,000 per event that they earned a Triple Crown in.

Men’s Standings/Earnings – Singapore Only

Rank Name Country Ranking Points Money Earned (Ranking) World Record Bonus
Total Money (Singapore)
1 Leon Marchand FRA 59.3 $12,000 $10,000 $22,000
2 Noe Ponti SUI 56.9 $10,000 $10,000 $20,000
3 Duncan Scott GBR 56.9 $8,000 $0 $8,000
4 Pieter Coetze RSA 55.2 $6,000 $0 $6,000
5 Ilya Shymanovich NIA 50.1 $5,500 $0 $5,500
6 Pan Zhanle CHN 49.6 $5,400 $0 $5,400
7 Caspar Corbeau NED 49.2 $5,300 $0 $5,300
8 Thomas Ceccon ITA 49.1 $5,200 $0 $5,200
9 Nyls Korstanje NED 48.8 $5,100 $0 $5,100
10 Isaac Cooper AUS 48.3 $5,000 $0 $5,000
11 Alberto Razzetti ITA 46.9 $4,900 $0 $4,900
12 Kieran Smith USA 44.4 $4,800 $0 $4,800
13 Marius Kusch GER 42.7 $4,700 $0 $4,700
14 Joshua Yong AUS 42.5 $4,600 $0 $4,600
15 Chad le Clos RSA 42.2 $4,500 $0 $4,500
16 Danas Rapsys LTU 41.1 $4,400 $0 $4,400
17 Trenton Julian USA 40.8 $4,300 $0 $4,300
18 Lorenzo Mora ITA 40.6 $4,200 $0 $4,200
19 Qin Haiyang CHN 40.1 $4,100 $0 $4,100
20 Lewis Clareburt NZL 36.7 $4,000 $0 $4,000

Women’s Standings/Earnings – Singapore Only

Rank Name Country Ranking Points Money Earned (Ranking) World Record Bonus
Total Money (Singapore)
1 Kate Douglass USA 60.2 $12,000 $10,000 $22,000
2 Regan Smith USA 60 $10,000 $20,000 $30,000
3 Katie Grimes USA 57.6 $8,000 $0 $8,000
4 Yu Yiting CHN 54.1 $6,000 $0 $6,000
5 Mary-Sophie Harvey CAN 51.6 $5,500 $0 $5,500
6 Siobhan Haughey HGK 51.5 $5,400 $0 $5,400
7 Tang Qianting CHN 51.2 $5,300 $0 $5,300
8 Alina Zmushka NIA 48.9 $5,200 $0 $5,200
9 Beata Nelson USA 48.1 $5,100 $0 $5,100
10 Brittany Castelluzzo AUS 47.9 $5,000 $0 $5,000
11 Kasia Wasick POL 47 $4,900 $0 $4,900
12 Iona Anderson AUS 46.7 $4,800 $0 $4,800
13 Louise Hansson SWE 45.9 $4,700 $0 $4,700
14 Yang Junxuan CHN 45.2 $4,600 $0 $4,600
15 Ingrid Wilm CAN 43.6 $4,500 $0 $4,500
16 Claire Weinstein USA 43.5 $4,400 $0 $4,400
17 Anastasiya Shkurdai NIA 42.8 $4,300 $0 $4,300
18 Sara Junevik SWE 42.1 $4,200 $0 $4,200
19 Tara Kinder AUS 41.9 $4,100 $0 $4,100
20 Waka Kobori JPN 41 $4,000 $0 $4,000

Overall Prize Money – Series Totals

Top 25 Men

Overall Rank Country Name Prize Money: Stop 1 Prize Money: Stop 2 Prize Money: Stop 3 World Record Bonus Triple Crown Bonus Series Points Bonus
Series Total Money
1 FRA Leon
MARCHAND
12000 10000 12000 $10,000 $30,000 $100,000 $174,000.00
2 SUI Noe
PONTI
10000 12000 10000 $20,000 $20,000 $70,000 $142,000.00
3 GBR Duncan
SCOTT
6000 5500 8000 $10,000 $30,000 $59,500.00
4 RSA Pieter
COETZE
5500 8000 6000 $20,000 $15,000 $54,500.00
5 CHN Haiyang
QIN
8000 6000 4000 $10,000 $14,000 $42,000.00
6 NIA Ilya
SHYMANOVICH
5300 5100 5500 $12,000 $27,900.00
7 AUS Isaac
COOPER
5100 5300 5000 $11,000 $26,400.00
8 ITA Thomas
CECCON
5400 4400 5200 $10,000 $25,000.00
9 NED Nyls
KORSTANJE
5200 5000 5100 $15,300.00
10 NED Caspar
CORBEAU
4500 4800 5300 $14,600.00
11 ITA Alberto
RAZZETTI
4900 4700 4800 $14,400.00
12 USA Kieran
SMITH
4700 4500 4700 $13,900.00
13 AUS Joshua
YONG
5000 4300 4500 $13,800.00
14 GER Marius
KUSCH
4600 4200 4600 $13,400.00
15 CHN Zhanle
PAN
5400 5400 $10,800.00
16 TTO Dylan
CARTER
4800 4900 $9,700.00
17 POL Kacper
STOKOWSKI
4400 5200 $9,600.00
18 LTU Danas
RAPSYS
4600 4300 $8,900.00
19 USA Trenton
JULIAN
4300 4200 $8,500.00
20 NZL Lewis
CLAREBURT
4000 4100 $8,100.00
21 JPN Daiya
SETO
4900 $4,900.00
22 RSA Chad
LE CLOS
4400 $4,400.00
23 GBR James
GUY
4200 $4,200.00
24 ITA Lorenzo
MORA
4100 $4,100.00
25 AUS Matthew
TEMPLE
4100 $4,100.00

Top 25 Women

Overall Rank Country Name Prize Money: Stop 1 Prize Money: Stop 2 Prize Money: Stop 3 World Record Bonus Triple Crown Bonus Series Points Bonus
Series Total Money
1 USA Kate
DOUGLASS
12000 10000 12000 $20,000 $30,000 $100,000 $184,000.00
2 USA Regan
SMITH
10000 12000 10000 $30,000 $20,000 $70,000 $152,000.00
3 HKG Siobhan Bernadette
HAUGHEY
8000 8000 5400 $10,000 $30,000 $61,400.00
4 CHN Qianting
TANG
5400 5400 5300 $20,000 $12,000 $48,100.00
5 POL Katarzyna
WASICK
5000 5200 4900 $10,000 $10,000 $35,100.00
6 CHN Yiting
YU
6000 5500 6000 $15,000 $32,500.00
7 CAN Mary-Sophie
HARVEY
5500 6000 5500 $14,000 $31,000.00
8 NIA Alina
ZMUSHKA
5300 4900 5200 $11,000 $26,400.00
9 USA Beata
NELSON
5100 4800 5100 $15,000.00
10 CAN Ingrid
WILM
4800 5300 4500 $14,600.00
11 CHN Junxuan
YANG
4400 4400 4600 $13,400.00
12 NIA Anastasiya
SHKURDAI
4700 4300 4300 $13,300.00
13 SWE Louise
HANSSON
4200 4000 4700 $12,900.00
14 FIN Laura
LAHTINEN
5200 4600 $9,800.00
15 AUS Brittany
CASTELLUZZO
4500 5000 $9,500.00
16 AUS Lily
PRICE
4100 5100 $9,200.00
17 AUS Tara
KINDER
5000 4100 $9,100.00
18 SWE Sara
JUNEVIK
4000 4200 $8,200.00
19 JPN Waka
KOBORI
4200 4000 $8,200.00
20 USA Katie
GRIMES
8000 $8,000.00
21 RSA Rebecca
MEDER
4900 $4,900.00
22 AUS Iona
ANDERSON
4800 $4,800.00
23 AUS Milla
JANSEN
4700 $4,700.00
24 CHN Yaqi
KONG
4600 $4,600.00
25 CHN Xuwei
PENG
4500 $4,500.00

How does the prize money and scoring work?

Courtesy: Sophie Kaufman

Scoring System

Like previous years, points are awarded from the finish order and how fast the swim is based on the AQUA Power Points system.

Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th
Points 10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1

Points are awarded for speed by taking the number of AQUA Power Points a swim is worth, dividing by ten, and rounding down to the nearest tenth.

Prize Money

Swimmers can race as many events as they want at each stop, but only their three best scores from a stop will be added together to determine their score for the stop. At each stop, there is a total of $112,000 (USD) on offer for each gender or $672,000 for the whole series. This is the same amount as was available in 2023 and 2022.

Prize money for rankings at each stop is given through the top 20 positions with men and women scored separately. If there is a tie, the swimmer with the higher AQUA Power Points in their best event during the stop wins.

Prize Money for Each Stop: 

Ranking at Stop Total Ranking At Stop Total
1 $12,000 11 $4,900
2 $10,000 12 $4,800
3 $8,000 13 $4,700
4 $6,000 14 $4,600
5 $5,500 15 $4,500
6 $5,400 16 $4,400
7 $5,300 17 $4,300
8 $5,200 18 $4,200
9 $5,100 19 $4,100
10 $5,000 20 $4,000

There is also prize money for the top eight swimmers per gender at the end of the entire series. The winner of the men’s and women’s standings will each earn $100,000. A total of $262,000 will be awarded across the top eight swimmers per gender at the end of the series. Again, this is the same amount of money that was on offer in 2023.

Prize Money for Overall Series Ranking: 

OVERALL RANK TOTAL (USD)
1 $100,000
2 $70,000
3 $30,000
4 $15,000
5 $14,000
6 $12,000
7 $11,000
8 $10,000

Total Guaranteed Prize Money To Be Awarded

  • Shanghai – $224,000 ($112,00 per gender)
  • Incheon – $224,000 ($112,00 per gender)
  • Singapore – $224,000 ($112,00 per gender)
  • Overall Series Rankings – $524,000 ($262,000 per gender)
  • Total – $1,196,000

Additional Prize Money

In addition to the guaranteed prize money from rankings at the end of each stop and the end of the series, swimmers can earn money by breaking a world record or completing a Triple Crown—winning the same event at all three stops.

Swimmers can pick up $10,000 USD for each world record and $10,000 for each Triple Crown. Last year, Kaylee McKeown broke two world records at the World Cup series, swimming 26.86 in the 50 backstroke and a 57.33 100 backstroke at the Budapest stop. There were 20 Triple Crowns won in 2023; 12 were won by women as every women’s freestyle, backstroke, and butterfly events were Triple Crowns.

2023 Swimming World Cup Triple Crowns

Women:

Men:

2023 Results

McKeown and Qin Haiyang followed up their exploits at the 2023 World Championships, where they became the first swimmers to sweep 50/100/200 of a stroke at a World Championships by winning the 2023 Swimming World Cup.

McKeown claimed the women’s trophy win 177.4 points ahead of Siobhan Haughey (166.4) and Zhang Yufei (166.2). Over the three stops of the 2023 World Cup, McKeown earned three backstroke Triple Crowns, broke two world records, and lowered the backstroke World Cup records each time she swam.

Qin won the men’s table with 175.4 points, with Thomas Ceccon (167.9) and Matthew Sates (166.8) finishing second and third. Qin earned three breaststroke Triple Crowns, setting World Cup records in the 50 and 200 breast at the first stop of the series in Berlin.

While not always the case, in 2023 the World Cup overall winners also earned the most prize money throughout the series. Qin earned $166,000 while McKeown topped all swimmers with $186,000.

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Kurt Mills Hanson
17 days ago

I still don’t know how pro swimmers survive

SHRKB8
Reply to  Kurt Mills Hanson
17 days ago

A lot still need plenty of support from family for sure.

Barbossa Andrew 🐍
17 days ago

And none for MA

Hank
Reply to  Barbossa Andrew 🐍
17 days ago

He needs to buy snake food. Cut the bro some slack.

Viking Steve
17 days ago

Kudos to KD and Regan.

3-week girls trips to Asia usually COST 10s of thousands of dollars…. and they managed to have a fun trip together and MAKE 100s of thousands of dollars!

This Guy
17 days ago

This has to push Kate Douglas’s a bit further into the “keep swimming” territory, at least I hope so.

sjostrom stan
Reply to  This Guy
17 days ago

on one hand yes, but on the other hand with her area of expertise in data in analytics she can earn serious money if she retires

Dmswim
Reply to  sjostrom stan
16 days ago

$184k in 3 weeks while having fun traveling with friends good money?

Alison England
18 days ago

Do they have to pay income tax on this when they get home?

NornIron Swim
Reply to  Alison England
18 days ago

It’s their job. Same as any other pro athlete. So yeah – unless they’ve got a nice little tax haven set up!
Assuming some can be written off for expenses etc.

Alison England
Reply to  NornIron Swim
18 days ago

Thought so.

Alison England
Reply to  NornIron Swim
17 days ago

The top earners will lose quite a lot of that in tax then.

This Guy
Reply to  Alison England
17 days ago

It’s income, yes

Hank
18 days ago

That’s around $1 million just in prize money. Who foots the bill for this? Does World Aquatics get all this money from dues or big sponsors? I doubt there’s a ton of ticket sales or broadcasting revenues…

Admin
Reply to  Hank
17 days ago

It seems like the documents outlining hosting fees have disappeared from the internet, but I believe hosting fees cover the prize money.

BMays
Reply to  Braden Keith
17 days ago

Who pays the hosting fee and whats their incentive? I doubt there is much benefit for it

Admin
Reply to  BMays
17 days ago

Some combination of the local federation, local governments, national governments, host facility, etc. There’s some economy stimulus, even if it’s just for the hotel rooms for athletes and officials (which are marked way up).

Some governments use events like these for political reasons, to establish their country as one that matters in the world, etc. Depending on the country, sometimes there’s money to be made. The Shanghai stop sold tickets out very quickly, and I would guess had a lot of television interest in China. On big city tourism budgets, $300k or so isn’t a ton of money.

Remember that a lot of countries use public funds to support sports ‘just because’ they believe it’s an important enough part of… Read more »

Weinstein-Madden-Ledecky-Gemmell
18 days ago

A shout out to Beata Nelson with her contributions to the medal table:

Gold – 0
Silver – 2
Bronze – 5

comment image

CavaDore
18 days ago

$184,000 in 3 weeks. WOW! 😳
I’m surprised more swimmers don’t compete at these meets every year.

Last edited 18 days ago by CavaDore
Grant House anti-fan club
Reply to  CavaDore
17 days ago

Yeah… but compare that to the #10 spot for either gender (Ingrid Wilm/Casper Corbeau, both @ $14.6K). Not that it’s an insignificant amount of money, but then couple that with the facts of a) this is right after the Olympics and b) it’s three weeks of racing and traveling, and suddenly the opportunity isn’t as “free” as you’re making it out to be.

This of course changes when you’re both an Olympic-champion level talent, and particularly good at short course, and can get closer to that top-4 spot of around $50K.

So really, the question is which other swimmers are going to be able to challenge the top 4 with a good enough chance to put their training/lives on hold.

Last edited 17 days ago by Grant House anti-fan club
CavaDore
Reply to  Grant House anti-fan club
17 days ago

Yeah I should’ve qualified my comment further by saying “more top level swimmers…” Like I understand Kaylee McKeown was burned out or exhausted and possibly dealing with some mental health stuff but there’s nothing like easy money to perk a person up!

The unoriginal Tim
Reply to  CavaDore
17 days ago

The money used to be even better but the series was much longer so even less top swimmers would show up.

About Nicole Miller

Nicole Miller

Nicole has been with SwimSwam since April 2020, as both a reporter and social media contributor. Prior to joining the SwimSwam platform, Nicole also managed a successful Instagram platform, amassing over 20,000 followers. Currently, Nicole is pursuing her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. After competing for the swim …

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