2022 FINA WORLD CUP CIRCUIT
- October 21 – November 5, 2022
- Leg 1: Oct. 21-23 – Berlin, Germany
- Leg 2: Oct. 28-30 – Toronto, Canada
- Leg 3: Nov. 3-5 – Indianapolis, Indiana
- SCM (25 meters)
- World Cup Central
- Prize Money Info
The 2022 FINA World Cup series will offer the same scoring format as it did last year, with swimmers earning points that will count towards a prize purse given out both after each meet and at the conclusion of the three-meet series.
Swimmers will earn points based on both where they finish in an individual event and how many FINA points they score in that swim.
Using each swimmer’s best three results (sum of points for position and performance), the athletes will be ranked and the top 20 per gender will receive prize money for their standing at each stop of the circuit.
There’s no restriction on how many events an athlete can enter, but only their top three performances from each meet will count toward the point total.
At the end of the series, the swimmers’ totals from each leg will be added up to determine the final rankings, where the top eight will earn prize money, with the winner taking home $100,000 USD.
POINTS BREAKDOWN
The points system is relatively straightforward. If a swimmer finishes third in an event in which they score 915 FINA points, they’ll earn a total of 15.1 points (6 for finishing third, 9.1 for the FINA points score).
Points Awarded For Finish Per Event
| Position | Points |
| 1st | 10 |
| 2nd | 8 |
| 3rd | 6 |
| 4th | 5 |
| 5th | 4 |
| 6th | 3 |
| 7th | 2 |
| 8th | 1 |
Points Awarded For FINA Points Per Event
| Up to | … | 999 | 989 | 979 | 969 | 959 | 949 | 939 | 929 | 919 | 909 | 899 | 889 | 879 | 869 | 859 |
| Starting from | … | 990 | 980 | 970 | 960 | 950 | 940 | 930 | 920 | 910 | 900 | 890 | 880 | 870 | 860 | 850 |
| Points | … | 9.9 | 9.8 | 9.7 | 9.6 | 9.5 | 9.4 | 9.3 | 9.2 | 9.1 | 9 | 8.9 | 8.8 | 8.7 | 8.6 | 8.5 |
| Up to | 849 | 839 | 829 | 819 | 809 | 799 | 789 | 779 | 769 | 759 | 749 | 739 | 729 | 719 | 709 | …> |
| Starting from | 840 | 830 | 820 | 810 | 800 | 790 | 780 | 770 | 760 | 750 | 740 | 730 | 720 | 710 | 700 | …> |
| Points | 8.4 | 8.3 | 8.2 | 8.1 | 8 | 7.9 | 7.8 | 7.7 | 7.6 | 7.5 | 7.4 | 7.3 | 7.2 | 7.1 | 7 | …> |
PRIZE MONEY (USD) – PER MEET
At the end of each stop, $112,000 in prize money will be dispersed to the top 20 swimmers of each gender for a total of $224,000.
| RANK | TOTAL (USD) |
| 1 | $12,000 |
| 2 | $10,000 |
| 3 | $8,000 |
| 4 | $6,000 |
| 5 | $5,500 |
| 6 | $5,400 |
| 7 | $5,300 |
| 8 | $5,200 |
| 9 | $5,100 |
| 10 | $5,000 |
| 11 | $4,900 |
| 12 | $4,800 |
| 13 | $4,700 |
| 14 | $4,600 |
| 15 | $4,500 |
| 16 | $4,400 |
| 17 | $4,300 |
| 18 | $4,200 |
| 19 | $4,100 |
| 20 | $4,000 |
PRIZE MONEY (USD) – OVERALL
A total of $262,000 will be awarded at the end of the series for the top eight swimmers per gender. Last year, the top 10 earned prize money, which brought the total to $278,000 per gender.
| 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
- Berlin – $224,000 ($112,00 per gender)
- Toronto – $224,000 ($112,00 per gender)
- Indianapolis – $224,000 ($112,00 per gender)
- Overall Series Rankings – $524,000 ($262,000 per gender)
- Total – $1,196,000
Additional Prize Money
Swimmers can also earn an additional $10,000 for breaking a world record or winning the same event at all three legs of the series.
During the 2021 circuit, which had four stops, Australian Kyle Chalmers broke the world record in the men’s 100 freestyle, producing a time of 44.84 to break the super-suited mark of 44.94 set back in 2008.
The bonus for winning the same event at every stop was not in place last year, but there were a few swimmers who managed to pull off the four-peat.
Swimmers Who Won The Same Event At Every Leg of 2021 FINA World Cup
- Kyle Chalmers – men’s 100 freestyle
- Arno Kamminga – men’s 100 breaststroke
- Tom Shields – men’s 100 butterfly
- Emma McKeon – women’s 100 freestyle
- Madison Wilson – women’s 200 freestyle
- Kira Toussaint – women’s 50 backstroke
- Kira Toussaint – women’s 200 backstroke
- Maria Ugolkova – women’s 200 IM
2021 Results
Last year, Australian Emma McKeon and South African Matt Sates won the overall series titles, earning them $100,000 apiece to go along with their totals from each individual leg.
Overall, McKeon was the top earner with $144,000, followed by Sates ($140,000). Kira Toussaint ($107,500) and Tom Shields ($103,500) also exceeded the $100K threshold.
You can find the full earnings from 2021 here.
Chalmers, Sates and Shields will all be in the field this week as the series kicks off in Berlin on Friday.
Anyone figure out the break even point? Seems like below 10th place at each stop won’t make anything after flights, hotels…. the only motivation for these meets is: 1. if you are a top 10 at every stop or 2. if it is very cheap to fly and stay there (local meet). No wonder many stars stay clear of this series.
People keep bringing up the “cost to attend,” but as I keep pointing out in response in the comments, many swimmers are getting subsidized costs from their national federations, the meet hosts, or FINA.
So no prize money for each individual event?
I also think that the $10,000 for a World Record needs to be increased, it has not changed in 25+ years and during that time the average value for currencies have almost halfed, CPI about 195, so anything less than $20000 means we value a New World record less than we did in the early days of the World Cup (if you play around the the definitions just a little).
Good point on WRs.
The points/money system looks bad for the big names. Hozzus demolition of this series from 2013-16 resulted in a lot of money. Now she would be limited to 3 scoring events. Not sure how to feel about that.