There’s just one week before the opening of entries for the 2014 Minneapolis Grand Prix, and prizes for the 2014-2015 season have been revealed, and they’ve gone up significantly.
The overall series winners (one male and one female who are eligible) will once again receive a 1-year lease of a brand new BMW, and in addition they will each receive $10,000.
In addition, the top three finishers of each Olympic event (or their equivalent for the Minneapolis meet, which is in yards) will receive cash prizes that are twice as much as last year:
- 1st: $1,000
- 2nd: $600
- 3rd: $200
While these prizes (both overall and per event) are still less than what is awarded at the FINA World Cup Series, it comes with the benefit of a much lower travel cost and therefore less risk taken on for American swimmers.
This year’s series will feature the same 6 stops as the 2013-2014 series did:
- Minnesota Grand Prix (SCY): November 20th-22nd
- Austin Grand Prix: January 15th-17th
- Orlando Grand Prix: February 12th-14th
- Mesa Grand Prix: April 15th-18th
- Charlotte Grand Prix: May 14th-17th
- Santa Clara Grand Prix: June 18th-21st
For those meets that occur before the completion of the college season, which are the Minnesota, Austin, and Orlando Grand Prixs, the time standards will be the 2014 Winter Junior Nationals standards (with a cap of 600 athletes + cap exceptions).
Winter Juniors Time Standards can be seen here.
For those meets that occur after the completion of the college season, which are the Mesa, Charlotte, and Santa Clara Grand Prixs, the time standards will be the 2015 Summer Nationals time standards. Those standards have not yet been publicly released.
Entry fees will be $15 each for individual events, $30 each for relay events, and $20 for each coach’s deck pass. Swimmers who qualify in one individual event may swim up to two bonus events.
Entry dates:
- Minnesota: Opens September 2nd, Deadline November 10th
- Austin: Opens October 28th, deadline January 5th
- Orlando: Opens November 18th, deadline February 2nd
- Mesa: Opens January 27th, deadline April 6th
- Charlotte: Opens February 3rd, deadline May 4th
- Santa Clara: Opens April 7th, deadline June 8th
I’d love to win.
The cuts for the series have gotten so fast. Making Santa Clara/Mesa the same as summer nationals is intense.