SwimSwam Pulse is a recurring feature tracking and analyzing the results of our periodic A3 Performance Polls. You can cast your vote in our newest poll on the SwimSwam homepage, about halfway down the page on the right side, or you can find the poll embedded at the bottom of this post.
Our most recent poll asked SwimSwam readers what they thought of FINA’s new rules preventing athletes from entering too many events at World Cup events:
RESULTS
Question: What do you think of FINA’s entry caps on 2017 World Cup events?
- It’s bad; unfairly hurts versatile athletes (72.2%)
- It’s good; closer & more exciting point races (15.9%)
- No opinion (11.8%)
An overwhelming majority of SwimSwam voters disagreed with FINA’s new World Cup rules, which will limit each swimmer to 4 individual races per World Cup stop.
FINA says the new rules are aimed at attracting more top-level athletes and improving the visibility of World Cup meets. But several high-level swimmers have strongly opposed the new rules, chief among them 5-time defending World Cup champion Katinka Hosszu.
Hosszu has rolled up well over a million dollars in prize money over the past three World Cup tours alone, and says the new rules unfairly disadvantage versatile athletes like herself. SwimSwam voters agreed overwhelmingly, with almost three-quarters of votes opposing FINA’s new system. The new FINA rules also include several other quirks – each event will only take place at two of the three World Cup meets in each cluster, and World Championships medalists will have “direct access” to finals. While we haven’t seen exactly how these rules will play out, it appears that at least some high-level swimmers will get to bypass prelims entirely, earning a spot in finals based on their summer success. (That’s also a bit of an odd development, considering the World Champs take place in long course meters and the World Cups in short course meters).
15.9% of voters agreed with FINA’s new rules. It is worth noting that the new rules should theoretically make for a more complex points battle. The previous World Cup system hasn’t exactly created a lot of drama in previous years. Hosszu has typically built up a point lead that’s realistically insurmountable by about three meets in, and the point races on the men’s side haven’t been much closer. Proponents of the new system would suggest the sport will benefit from a World Cup tour that promotes closer point races and provides more drama for spectators. Opponents of the system would likely counter that entertainment value shouldn’t come at the expense of athletes’ ability to make money, or that the new system is overly complex enough to hurt the fan engagement it’s trying to promote.
Meanwhile 11.8% of voters had no opinion on the new rules. While the World Cup is a pretty big event in the grand scheme of international swimming, a lot of fans don’t pay much attention for several reasons. The short course meters format makes times tough to put in context for many fans. The relatively unexciting points races are probably another contributing factor. And the World Cup mostly overlaps with NCAA dual meet season, and all things NCAA tend to be massive fan draws, at least according to traffic numbers on SwimSwam for college events.
The new World Cup rules will take effect late this summer. The series opens very early this year, starting in Moscow on August 2-3. The series runs through November 18-19, with the 9th and final stop in Singapore.
Below, vote in our new A3 Performance Poll, which asks voters whether Sarah Sjostrom can win four events (50 fly, 100 fly, 50 free, 100 free) at this summer’s World Championships:
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The A3 Performance Poll is courtesy of A3 Performance, a SwimSwam partner
This seems squarely pointed at Hosszu and no one else. The short rest time between events is the rate limiting step. Look how hard Lochte’s 2back/2IM double is in the Olympics. I think its damn exciting to see an athlete go for it. Why put arbitrary limits?
FINA should have swimmers on the board who can veto some of their silly decisions and maybe redirect them to real problems, like having Efimova, a 2x drug cheat, compete in Olympic and World competitions.