More Than $1 Million Set Aside For Prize Money at 2013 FINA Swimming World Cup

PHOENIX, Arizona, May 17. THE paychecks will get bigger in the 2013 edition of the FINA swimming World Cup, as the international governing body announced today that $1.26 million in cash will be awarded to athletes throughout the eight meets in the series.

Athletes will still get the same amount of prize money for finishing in the top three in all 34 individual events at each meet, and the overall top three in the men's and women's points races will get a large payday at the end of the series. But the new component of the prize money is an additional $800,000 that will be distributed across three competition clusters, thanks to an unnamed sponsor. Swimming World has learned that Arena, which used to be a title sponsor of the World Cup, is not that sponsor.

The World Cup series will be divided into European, Middle Eastern and Asian clusters. The top six point scorers in the men's and women's divisions in each cluster will receive paychecks in amounts that depend on the cluster in which he or she participates. In the Middle East and Asia clusters, $300,000 will be awarded in each group, with the top male and female getting $50,000 each. With only two meets conducted in the Europe cluster, only $200,000 will be awarded, and the top male and female will get $40,000 each.

Also new this year is a different system to determine the overall and cluster winners. Instead of awarding points only to the top three performances at each meet for each gender, FINA will also give points to the top three medalists in each event. This puts the impetus on swimmers to race in more events throughout the series, which propelled Katinka Hosszu to her big payout last year. Kenneth To, on the other hand, swam very few events and won the overall men's title by putting up the best performance at each meet.

The winners of the cluster will be determined by adding all the points earned at each meet. The top three finishers in each gender in the overall rankings will be determined by taking all the points earned in each cluster, which essentially is the same as adding all the points earned per meet. World records earn 20 extra points, and it would appear that the financial bonus of setting a world record no longer is available.

Cluster prize money distribution (prize money listed is for each gender):
Europe (Eindhoven and Berlin)

Top-ranked swimmer: $40,000
Second-ranked swimmer: $25,000
Third-ranked swimmer: $15,000
Fourth-ranked swimmer: $8,000
Fifth-ranked swimmer: $7,000
Sixth-ranked swimmer: $5,000

Middle East (Moscow, Dubai, Doha)
Top-ranked swimmer: $50,000
Second-ranked swimmer: $35,000
Third-ranked swimmer: $30,000
Fourth-ranked swimmer: $20,000
Fifth-ranked swimmer: $10,000
Sixth-ranked swimmer: $5,000

Asia (Singapore, Tokyo, Beijing)
Top-ranked swimmer: $50,000
Second-ranked swimmer: $35,000
Third-ranked swimmer: $30,000
Fourth-ranked swimmer: $20,000
Fifth-ranked swimmer: $10,000
Sixth-ranked swimmer: $5,000

Points awarded for top performances in each gender per meet:
Best performance: 24 points
Second-best performance: 18 points
Third-best performance: 12 points
World record performance: 20 bonus points

Points for medalists in each event
Gold medal: 12 points
Silver medal: 9 points
Bronze medal: 6 points

Competition dates:
Eindhoven, August 7-8
Berlin, August 10-11
Moscow, October 12-13
Dubai, October 17-18
Doha, October 20-21
Singapore, November 5-6
Tokyo, November 9-10
Beijing, November 13-14

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