The Nice stage of the French Swimming Federation’s “Golden Tour” is off and running, as we reported earlier today. The Golden Tour is a four-stage series, not unlike the Arena Pro Series here in the United States, with total prize winnings of €140,000. Here’s how it works.
For each meet, the top 8 women and top 8 men will share €25,000 in prize money. Points are distributed to the top-8 finalists of each event as follows: 12 points for gold, 9 for silver, 7 for bronze, then 5 for 4th, 4 for 5th, 3 for 6th, 2 for 7th, and 1 point for an 8th-place finish. At the conclusion of the meet, the high scores are calculated and the purse is split.
| Women | Per Meet | Men | Mer Meet | |
| High point | 4000 € | High point | 4000 € | |
| #2 | 2500 € | #2 | 2500 € | |
| #3 | 2000 € | #3 | 2000 € | |
| #4 | 1200 € | #4 | 1200 € | |
| #5 | 1000 € | #5 | 1000 € | |
| #6 | 700 € | #6 | 700 € | |
| #7 | 600 € | #7 | 600 € | |
| #8 | 500 € | #8 | 500 € |
An additional €40,000 bonus is split among series winners at the conclusion of the four meets
| Women | Series Bonus | Men | Series Bonus | |
| High point | 6500 € | High point | 6500 € | |
| #2 | 4500 € | #2 | 4500 € | |
| #3 | 3000 € | #3 | 3000 € | |
| #4 | 1800 € | #4 | 1800 € | |
| #5 | 1500 € | #5 | 1500 € | |
| #6 | 1000 € | #6 | 1000 € | |
| #7 | 900 € | #7 | 900 € | |
| #8 | 800 € | #8 | 800 € |
As an example, if Katinka Hosszu, who is currently leading on the women’s side, were to achieve the highest point total at each meet, as well as for the series, she would stand to earn €22,500 (or, 85% of €22,500, as it is stipulated in the rules that the coach takes home 15% of the purse).
The four stages of the Golden Tour include:
| January 30-February 1 | Nice |
| February 13-15 | Amiens |
| March 6-8 | Marseille |
| May 22-24 | Nancy |
For French swimmers, the first three stages will serve as an excellent high-level competitive environment in which to practice racing before French Long Course Nationals in Limoges from March 31-April 5. The Limoges meet will be used to select the French national team for the 2015 FINA World Championships in Kazan.
Here are the leaders after Day One of competition in Nice. Feel free to sort it by name, or event number, or however you’d like. The women are on the left; the men, on the right (scroll to see):