The upgraded 35th Acropolis Swim Open is set to take place from May 5-7 at the Athens Olympic Aquatic Center (Athens, Greece), with €50,000 ($54,500 USD) up for grabs amongst some of the top international athletes and coaches.
Unlike the 2022 Acropolis meet, the 2023 edition has been approved by World Aquatics as a qualifying meet for the 2023 World Championships in Fukoka, Japan and for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France. As a qualifying meet, there may be some fast times fired off as athletes make the last push to qualify for the summer championship season.
At the 2022 edition of the event, prominent athletes such as Katinka Hosszu, Emre Sakci, Kristian Gkolomeev, Szebastian Szabo, and Anna Ntountonaki competed for prize money. Hosszu is not expected to compete this year after the recent announcement of her pregnancy with her first child.
U.S. Olympian and World Record Holder, Michael Andrew, has confirmed that he will be competing at the 2023 edition. Andrew is the current American record holder in the 100m Breaststroke (58.14), and the World Record holder in the 4x100m Medley Relay from the 2021 Olympic Games.
Meet Format
The Athens Olympic Aquatic Center is an indoor facility with an eight-lane 50m pool, with a 25m warm-down pool. The venue has the ability to seat ~6,000.
The meet will be conducted in a prelims-finals format with A/B/C finals for the 50-100-200 events, with the C finals only being available to junior swimmers. Junior swimmers for this meet are considered boys 18 & under, and girls 17 & under.
The 400 events will be swum with A/B finals (open to all ages), whereas the 800-1500 events are to be swum as timed finals. The slower heats of the distance events will be swum in the morning, with the championship final in the evening session.
The meet has €50,000 ($54,500 USD) available in prize money to be awarded to swimmers and coaches based on performance. This is a decrease from the 2022 edition of the meet which had, €70,000 ($75,000 USD) up for grabs. Athletes’ performance is judged using the World Aquatics Point Scoring system, and can also earn prize bonuses for breaking records. The top athletes across events (by stroke, and then by longer distances) will be awarded €350. Coach’s awards will be awarded by points compiled across their athletes.
Below is the prize breakdown. A full breakdown of all the available prizes can be found here.
Individual Events
| 1st Place | €400 |
| 2nd Place | €200 |
| 3rd Place | €150 |
Athletes Ranking
| 1st Place | €3,000 |
| 2nd Place | €1,800 |
| 3rd Place | €1,200 |
| 4th Place | €800 |
Coaches Ranking
| 1st Place | €1,200 |
| 2nd Place | €800 |
| 3rd Place | €600 |
| 4th Place | €400 |
Record Bonuses
| World Record | €10,000 |
| European Record | €6,000 |
| World Junior Record | €2,500 |
| European Junior Record | €1,500 |
| Hellenic Record | €200 |
| Meet Record | €100 |
| Hellenic Junior Record | €50 |
Entries for the meet opened on April 1, and will close April 22.