FINA has expanded its open water 10km Marathon World Series event again headed into the 2020 Olympic year. After 8 stops in 2018 and 9 stops in 2019, FINA is scheduled to host 11 stops in 2020. The series will award $680,000 in prize money to the top finishers across the 11 meets.
Last season, there was $30,000 available per meet, with each of the men’s and women’s winners earning $3,500. There was also $350,000 in season-ending prize money last year, though FINA’s 2020 season announcement did not mention any season-long awards.
Among the new stops in the series will be one in Rosario, Argentina – the country’s 3rd most populous city. The city sits on the banks of the Paraná River, and the city has been a regular host on the UltraMarathon Series – which includes races of much longer distances.
Also joining the schedule for 2020 is a 2nd stop in China, specifically in Hong Kong, scheduled for October 25th. That late-year weather will allow the hot Hong Kong summer to subside to highs typically in the 70s.
There has also been a shift in the Hungarian stop from Balatonfured, one of the most famous and regular stops in open water swimming, to Budapest. This mirrors a shift for the 2020 European Open Water Championships, which have also moved closer to the capital city at a new venue: Lake Lupa. Read more about Lake Lupa here.
The 2019 overall series winners were Hungary’s Kristof Rasovsky and Italy’s Rachele Bruni. That was the first series win for Rasovsky, and was Bruni’s 3rd after winning in 2015 and 2016.
Although some Americans compete sporadically throughout the series every year, wholesale competition in the series is not usually a regular part of the American open water group’s annual plans.
| 2019 series | 2020 series |
| #1 – Doha (QAT) – February 16 | #1 Rosario (ARG) – February 8 |
| #2 – Seychelles (SEY) – May 12 | #2 Doha (QAT) – February 15 |
| #3 – Setubal (POR) – June 8 | #3 Victoria (SEY) – May 3 |
| #4 – Balatonfured (HUN) – June 15 | #4 Budapest (HUN) – June 6 |
| #5 – Lac St Jean (CAN) – July 21 | #5 Setubal (POR) – June 13 |
| #6 – Lac Megantic (CAN) – August 3 | #6 Lac St-Jean (CAN) – July 19 |
| #7 – Ohrid (MKD) – August 28 | #7 Lac Mégantic (CAN) – August 8 |
| #8 – Chinese Taipei (TPE) – September 7 | #8 Ohrid (MKD) – August 30 |
| #9 – Chun’An (CHN) – September 29 | #9 Nantou (TPE) – September 19 |
| #10 Chun’An (CHN) – October 16 | |
| #11 Hong Kong, China (HKG) – October 25 |
It will be great if FINA if Fina collected the prizes of the events that were never paid to the athletes in 2019!!
Still no stops in the U.S.?