About a month prior to the start of the 2018 Short Course World Championships, FINA almost doubled the amount of prize money available to athletes at the meet. Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszu, who filed a lawsuit against FINA a few days before the meet’s start, was the biggest benefactor of that change – coming home with $54,000 in prize money from the meet. That’s an increase of $13,500 as compared to what she would have made under the old reward system – which is a bigger increase (in individual earnings) than any other swimmer in the field resulting from the increase in prize earnings.
In total $1,532,000 were given out in placement money. That’s in addition to a further $135,000 awarded for 9 World Records.
The United States, responsible for 5 of those 9 World Records, took home $478,500 as a team (including relays), while Russia finisshed 2nd on the money list with $249,500.
World Records broken at the 2018 Short Course World Championships:
- Kirill Prigoda, Russia, Men’s 200 breast – 2:00.16
- Daiya Seto, Japan, Men’s 200 fly – 1:48.24
- USA, Men’s 200 free relay – 1:21.80
- USA, Men’s 400 free relay – 3:03.03
- Brazil, Men’s 800 free relay – 6:46.81
- Ariarne Titmus, Australia, Women’s 400 free relay – 3:53.92
- USA, Women’s 200 medley relay – 1:42.38
- USA, Mixed 200 free relay – 1:27.89
- USA, Mixed 200 medley relay – 1:36.40
Prize Money by Nation:
(This list includes relays)
| Country | 2018 Earnings |
| United States | $478,500 |
| Russian Federation | $249,500 |
| Japan | $188,000 |
| Australia | $181,000 |
| China | $180,000 |
| Italy | $140,000 |
| Brazil | $129,000 |
| Netherlands | $103,000 |
| South Africa | $69,000 |
| Hungary | $68,000 |
| Germany | $66,000 |
| France | $54,000 |
| Lithuania | $40,000 |
| Jamaica | $27,000 |
| Belarus | $26,000 |
| Finland | $20,000 |
| Poland | $19,500 |
| Czech Republic | $19,000 |
| Norway | $15,000 |
| Sweden | $14,000 |
| Belgium | $13,000 |
| Trinidad & Tobago | $10,000 |
| Ukraine | $10,000 |
| Austria | $10,000 |
| Canada | $10,000 |
| Ireland | $10,000 |
| Spain | $10,000 |
| Great Britain | $9,500 |
| Turkey | $7,000 |
| Hong Kong, China | $7,000 |
| Portugal | $6,000 |
| Ecuador | $4,000 |
| Bulgaria | $2,000 |
| Romania | $2,000 |
| New Zealand | $2,000 |
Individual Earnings, 2018 World Short Course Swimming Championships
Notes:
- Asterisk implies World Record boost of $15,000 (same under both systems)
- This is potential earnings. Some athletes may decline their prize money for reasons of amateurism. Here’s what happens to Americans’ prize money when they forfeit it.
- We excluded relay earnings, because it would take a lot of guessing to figure out how countries distribute prize money, especially in cases where the lineups are switched between prelims and finals. Olivia Smoliga, for example, was on 6 gold medal relays ($60,000), with three of those breaking World Records (an additional $45,000). Her distribution of that money is probably north of $10,000, but we don’t know for sure how much she’s entitled to.
- In total, 179 athletes from 35 countries won individual prize money. That’s out of 930 athletes entered in the meet.
- Russia’ Kiril Prigoda, with $36,000 earned (including a World Record bonus) was the top-earning male swimmer at the meet.
- Of the 10 highest-earning athletes, 5 were male and 5 were female.
| Name | Country | Individual Earnings at SC Worlds | Earnings under Old System | Improvement in new system |
| Hosszu, Katinka | Hungary | $54,000 | $40,500 | $13,500 |
| Prigoda, Kirill* | Russian Federation | $36,000 | $27,500 | $8,500 |
| Titmus, Ariarne* | Australia | $35,000 | $31,000 | $4,000 |
| Seto, Daiya* | Japan | $35,000 | $31,000 | $4,000 |
| Le Clos, Chad | South Africa | $33,000 | $24,000 | $9,000 |
| Kromowidjojo, Ranomi | Netherlands | $30,000 | $24,000 | $6,000 |
| Atkinson, Alia | Jamaica | $27,000 | $20,000 | $7,000 |
| Murphy, Ryan | United States | $26,000 | $20,000 | $6,000 |
| Dressel, Caeleb | United States | $26,000 | $20,000 | $6,000 |
| Baker, Kathleen | United States | $25,000 | $14,000 | $11,000 |
| Dahlia, Kelsi | United States | $25,000 | $18,000 | $7,000 |
| Heemskerk, Femke | Netherlands | $23,000 | $16,000 | $7,000 |
| Wang, Jianjiahe | China | $23,000 | $16,000 | $7,000 |
| Kolesnikov, Kliment | Russian Federation | $23,000 | $14,500 | $8,500 |
| Margalis, Melanie | United States | $22,000 | $14,500 | $7,500 |
| Comerford, Mallory | United States | $21,000 | $12,500 | $8,500 |
| Van Der Burgh, Cameron | South Africa | $20,000 | $16,000 | $4,000 |
| Smoliga, Olivia | United States | $20,000 | $16,000 | $4,000 |
| Barratt, Holly | Australia | $20,000 | $12,000 | $8,000 |
| Rylov, Evgeny | Russian Federation | $20,000 | $16,000 | $4,000 |
| Seebohm, Emily | Australia | $19,000 | $8,500 | $10,500 |
| Larkin, Mitchell | Australia | $18,500 | $8,250 | $10,250 |
| Rapsys, Danas | Lithuania | $18,000 | $14,000 | $4,000 |
| Morozov, Vladimir | Russian Federation | $18,000 | $14,000 | $4,000 |
| Shymanovich, Ilya | Belarus | $16,000 | $12,000 | $4,000 |
| Christiansen, Henrik | Norway | $15,000 | $10,000 | $5,000 |
| Li, Zhuhao | China | $14,000 | $8,000 | $6,000 |
| Laukkanen, Jenna | Finland | $14,000 | $5,500 | $8,500 |
| Fujimori, Hiromasa | Japan | $14,000 | $8,000 | $6,000 |
| Smith, Leah | United States | $13,000 | $6,500 | $6,500 |
| Meili, Katie | United States | $13,000 | $8,000 | $5,000 |
| Carraro, Martina | Italy | $13,000 | $6,500 | $6,500 |
| Lecluyse, Fanny | Belgium | $13,000 | $6,000 | $7,000 |
| Koseki, Yasuhiro | Japan | $13,000 | $6,500 | $6,500 |
| Wang, Shun | China | $13,000 | $9,000 | $4,000 |
| Prenot, Josh | United States | $13,000 | $8,000 | $5,000 |
| Li, Bingjie | China | $13,000 | $6,500 | $6,500 |
| Pieroni, Blake | United States | $12,500 | $8,750 | $3,750 |
| Xu, Jiayu | China | $12,000 | $7,500 | $4,500 |
| Hansen, Jessica | Australia | $11,000 | $5,500 | $5,500 |
| Grangeon, Lara | France | $11,000 | $4,500 | $6,500 |
| Cusinato, Ilaria | Italy | $11,000 | $4,500 | $6,500 |
| Kusch, Marius | Germany | $11,000 | $4,500 | $6,500 |
| Bianchi, Ilaria | Italy | $11,000 | $4,500 | $6,500 |
| Bilis, Simonas | Lithuania | $11,000 | $4,500 | $6,500 |
| Malyutin, Martin | Russian Federation | $10,000 | $4,000 | $6,000 |
| Coleman, Michelle | Sweden | $10,000 | $4,000 | $6,000 |
| Guido, Guilherme | Brazil | $10,000 | $4,000 | $6,000 |
| Carter, Dylan | Trinidad & Tobago | $10,000 | $5,000 | $5,000 |
| Metella, Mehdy | France | $10,000 | $4,000 | $6,000 |
| Henique, Melanie | France | $10,000 | $4,000 | $6,000 |
| Ye, Shiwen | China | $10,000 | $4,000 | $6,000 |
| Bratton, Lisa | United States | $10,000 | $8,000 | $2,000 |
| Santos, Nicholas | Brazil | $10,000 | $8,000 | $2,000 |
| Romanchuk, Mykhailo | Ukraine | $10,000 | $8,000 | $2,000 |
| Lazor, Annie | United States | $10,000 | $8,000 | $2,000 |
| Davies, Georgia | Great Britain | $9,500 | $4,250 | $5,250 |
| Kawamoto, Takeshi | Japan | $9,000 | $3,500 | $5,500 |
| Egorova, Anna | Russian Federation | $9,000 | $3,500 | $5,500 |
| Meilutyte, Ruta | Lithuania | $8,000 | $6,000 | $2,000 |
| Pilhatsch, Caroline | Austria | $8,000 | $6,000 | $2,000 |
| Kohler, Sarah | Germany | $8,000 | $3,000 | $5,000 |
| Quadarella, Simona | Italy | $8,000 | $6,000 | $2,000 |
| Orsi, Marco | Italy | $8,000 | $6,000 | $2,000 |
| Stewart, Kendyl | United States | $8,000 | $6,000 | $2,000 |
| Imai, Runa | Japan | $8,000 | $6,000 | $2,000 |
| Qin, Haiyang | China | $8,000 | $6,000 | $2,000 |
| Fraser-holmes, Thomas | Australia | $8,000 | $6,000 | $2,000 |
| Paltrinieri, Gregorio | Italy | $8,000 | $6,000 | $2,000 |
| Galat, Bethany | United States | $8,000 | $6,000 | $2,000 |
| Detti, Gabriele | Italy | $7,000 | $4,000 | $3,000 |
| Lesaffre, Fantine | France | $7,000 | $4,000 | $3,000 |
| Lima, Felipe | Brazil | $7,000 | $4,000 | $3,000 |
| Koch, Marco | Germany | $7,000 | $4,000 | $3,000 |
| Medeiros, Etiene | Brazil | $7,000 | $4,000 | $3,000 |
| Pumputis, Caio | Brazil | $7,000 | $2,500 | $4,500 |
| Graham, Alexander | Australia | $7,000 | $4,000 | $3,000 |
| Hasegawa, Suzuka | Japan | $7,000 | $4,000 | $3,000 |
| Tandy, Bradley | South Africa | $7,000 | $4,000 | $3,000 |
| Black, Haley | Canada | $7,000 | $2,500 | $4,500 |
| Dias, Daiene | Brazil | $7,000 | $4,000 | $3,000 |
| Ryan, Shane | Ireland | $7,000 | $4,000 | $3,000 |
| Almeida, Brandonn | Brazil | $7,000 | $4,000 | $3,000 |
| Kawecki, Radoslaw | Poland | $6,500 | $3,250 | $3,250 |
| Atherton, Minna | Australia | $6,500 | $3,250 | $3,250 |
| Vekovishchev, Mikhail | Russian Federation | $6,500 | $2,250 | $4,250 |
| Grothe, Zane | United States | $6,000 | $2,000 | $4,000 |
| Ji, Xinjie | China | $6,000 | $2,500 | $3,500 |
| Aubry, David | France | $6,000 | $2,500 | $3,500 |
| Bernek, Peter | Hungary | $6,000 | $2,500 | $3,500 |
| Pellegrini, Federica | Italy | $6,000 | $2,500 | $3,500 |
| Seemanova, Barbora | Czech Republic | $6,000 | $2,000 | $4,000 |
| Melo, Luiz Altamir | Brazil | $6,000 | $2,000 | $4,000 |
| Kharlanov, Aleksandr | Russian Federation | $6,000 | $2,500 | $3,500 |
| Shimizu, Sakiko | Japan | $6,000 | $2,000 | $4,000 |
| Scozzoli, Fabio | Italy | $6,000 | $2,500 | $3,500 |
| Kamminga, Arno | Netherlands | $6,000 | $2,000 | $4,000 |
| Andrew, Michael | United States | $6,000 | $2,500 | $3,500 |
| Fu, Yuanhui | China | $6,000 | $2,500 | $3,500 |
| Wang, Yichun | China | $6,000 | $2,000 | $4,000 |
| Yu, Jingyao | China | $6,000 | $2,500 | $3,500 |
| Grinev, Vladislav | Russian Federation | $6,000 | $2,500 | $3,500 |
| Krasnykh, Aleksandr | Russian Federation | $5,000 | $2,000 | $3,000 |
| Harting, Zach | United States | $5,000 | $2,000 | $3,000 |
| Vall, Jessica | Spain | $5,000 | $2,000 | $3,000 |
| Diener, Christian | Germany | $5,000 | $1,500 | $3,500 |
| Sakci, Huseyin Emre | Turkey | $5,000 | $2,000 | $3,000 |
| Panziera, Margherita | Italy | $5,000 | $2,000 | $3,000 |
| Cini, Mathilde | France | $5,000 | $2,000 | $3,000 |
| Correia, Breno | Brazil | $5,000 | $2,000 | $3,000 |
| Zhu, Menghui | China | $5,000 | $2,000 | $3,000 |
| Fesikov, Sergei | Russian Federation | $5,000 | $2,000 | $3,000 |
| De Waard, Maaike | Netherlands | $5,000 | $2,000 | $3,000 |
| Di Liddo, Elena | Italy | $5,000 | $2,000 | $3,000 |
| Juraszek, Pawel | Poland | $5,000 | $2,000 | $3,000 |
| Gyurta, Gergely | Hungary | $5,000 | $2,000 | $3,000 |
| Joly, Damien | France | $5,000 | $2,000 | $3,000 |
| Pebley, Jacob | United States | $5,000 | $2,000 | $3,000 |
| Micka, Jan | Czech Republic | $4,000 | $1,500 | $2,500 |
| Grevers, Matt | United States | $4,000 | $1,500 | $2,500 |
| Sabbioni, Simone | Italy | $4,000 | $1,500 | $2,500 |
| Wang, Lizhuo | China | $4,000 | $1,500 | $2,500 |
| Gomes Junior, Joao | Brazil | $4,000 | $1,500 | $2,500 |
| Moronuki, Emi | Japan | $4,000 | $1,000 | $3,000 |
| Ustinova, Daria K | Russian Federation | $4,000 | $1,500 | $2,500 |
| Coelho Santos, Leonardo | Brazil | $4,000 | $1,500 | $2,500 |
| Peribonio Avila, Tomas | Ecuador | $4,000 | $1,500 | $2,500 |
| To, Kenneth | Hong Kong, China | $4,000 | $1,500 | $2,500 |
| Monteiro, Ana | Portugal | $4,000 | $1,500 | $2,500 |
| Mcevoy, Cameron | Australia | $4,000 | $1,500 | $2,500 |
| Dorinov, Mikhail | Russian Federation | $4,000 | $1,500 | $2,500 |
| Takemura, Miyuki | Japan | $4,000 | $1,500 | $2,500 |
| Salamatina, Valeriia | Russian Federation | $4,000 | $1,500 | $2,500 |
| Shi, Jinglin | China | $4,000 | $1,500 | $2,500 |
| Yasue, Takaya | Japan | $3,500 | $1,250 | $2,250 |
| Wojdak, Wojciech | Poland | $3,000 | $1,000 | $2,000 |
| Andrusenko, Veronika | Russian Federation | $3,000 | $1,000 | $2,000 |
| Brown, Nic | Australia | $3,000 | $1,000 | $2,000 |
| Temnikova, Mariia | Russian Federation | $3,000 | $1,000 | $2,000 |
| Irie, Ryosuke | Japan | $3,000 | $1,000 | $2,000 |
| Corro, Catalina | Spain | $3,000 | $1,000 | $2,000 |
| Harkin, Abbey | Australia | $3,000 | $1,000 | $2,000 |
| Schwingenschlogl, Fabian | Germany | $3,000 | $1,000 | $2,000 |
| Kubova, Simona | Czech Republic | $3,000 | $1,000 | $2,000 |
| Akase, Sayaka | Japan | $3,000 | $1,000 | $2,000 |
| Switkowski, Jan | Poland | $3,000 | $1,000 | $2,000 |
| Neal, Lia | United States | $3,000 | $1,000 | $2,000 |
| Kameneva, Mariia | Russian Federation | $3,000 | $1,000 | $2,000 |
| Conger, Jack | United States | $3,000 | $1,000 | $2,000 |
| Zhang, Yufei | China | $3,000 | $1,000 | $2,000 |
| Anderson, Haley | United States | $3,000 | $1,000 | $2,000 |
| Soma, Ai | Japan | $3,000 | $1,000 | $2,000 |
| Cielo Filho, Cesar | Brazil | $3,000 | $1,000 | $2,000 |
| Takeuchi, Tomoya | Japan | $3,000 | $1,000 | $2,000 |
| Kalmar, Akos | Hungary | $3,000 | $1,000 | $2,000 |
| Nakamura, Katsumi | Japan | $2,500 | $750 | $1,750 |
| Scheffer, Fernando | Brazil | $2,000 | $500 | $1,500 |
| Musso, Erica | Italy | $2,000 | $500 | $1,500 |
| Ivanov, Antani | Bulgaria | $2,000 | $500 | $1,500 |
| Hulkko, Ida | Finland | $2,000 | $500 | $1,500 |
| Glinta, Robert | Romania | $2,000 | $500 | $1,500 |
| Ashby, Bradlee | New Zealand | $2,000 | $500 | $1,500 |
| Takahashi, Miho | Japan | $2,000 | $500 | $1,500 |
| Wilson, Andrew | United States | $2,000 | $500 | $1,500 |
| Persson, Erik | Sweden | $2,000 | $500 | $1,500 |
| Kostin, Oleg | Russian Federation | $2,000 | $500 | $1,500 |
| Tchorz, Alicja | Poland | $2,000 | $500 | $1,500 |
| Gallagher, Erin | South Africa | $2,000 | $500 | $1,500 |
| Codia, Piero | Italy | $2,000 | $500 | $1,500 |
| Coetzee, Ryan | South Africa | $2,000 | $500 | $1,500 |
| Kobayashi, Nao | Japan | $2,000 | $500 | $1,500 |
| Goto, Mayuko | Japan | $2,000 | $500 | $1,500 |
| Schmidtke, Aliena | Germany | $2,000 | $500 | $1,500 |
| Omoto, Rika | Japan | $2,000 | $500 | $1,500 |
| Watanabe, Kanako | Japan | $2,000 | $500 | $1,500 |
| Garcia, Marina | Spain | $2,000 | $500 | $1,500 |
| Vital, Joao Alexandre | Portugal | $2,000 | $500 | $1,500 |
| Kennedy, Madison | United States | $2,000 | $500 | $1,500 |
| Matsubara, Hayate | Japan | $2,000 | $500 | $1,500 |
Absolutely insane… Lebron makes $500k PER GAME… Yes, NBA brings in more money but $50k for being one of the best at world championships is ridiculous. You get $300k for winning the Crossfit Games…
How many spots does the Crossfit games payout? Do they also payout for individual event winners or just an overall champion?
The most important question: how much did fina made out of this competition (how much did fina keep)?
We don’t know for sure, but should some time next year (at least the audited numbers – a cynic will argue that this doesn’t show the complete picture).
What we do have is 2016 numbers. They registered about $7.4 million in income, plus another $2.4 million in “value in kind” income, which they don’t define well but seems to be pro bono services in marketing and broadcasting.
2016 expenses seem to be about $3.5 million in cash, another 900k in value in kind expenses (again, those aren’t well scoped), and $1.2 million in prize money. So in 2016, on a cash basis, FINA seems to have net about $2.7 million richer on the books.
Note that $1.1… Read more »
Thank you, Braden. Your response to my question is worth a solo post. No wonder the athletes are not happy. I’ve read that they had a meeting in London this week.
Let’s trust the athletes to get the best advisers – lest they fall in the hands of yet another red-tape-prone organisation.
Swimming is one of the most popular sports at the Olympics. It should be as popular at other events. And the athletes should be rewarded.
Hosszu’s earnings can be used as a litmus test for the loopholes presence in the prize system design. Does anybody really believe that this swimmer’s caliber is 3-5 times greater than ones of Morozov or Comerfod or Deesseel or Wang Jianjiahe or Van Der Burgh or Andrew or Smoliga or Ryan etc.
Ridiculous. Will FINA ever learn from its mistakes? They still allow her to be overpaid for the low quality performance.
Hosszu is a multiple olympic gold medalist individually, has 2 WRs and has won many world championship golds as well. With the exception of Van de burgh, all of the swimmers you mentioned lack an olympic gold or only have got one from a relay. Van de burgh has one olympic gold and silver, hosszu has 3 gold 1 silver. So yes, Hosszu’s caliber is far greater than that of the swimmers you mentioned.
Sure, Dressel has potential, but Hosszu has got the job done consistently for the past six years.
You missed my point. I’m not talking about glorious past. I’m talking about current meet. Until awards correspond the quality FINA will lose any business competition if it is any. And maybe it’s for good. If ISL is a real prestigious deal but not a circus show in Las Vegas then Hosszu’s earnings will be inline with her season ranking. How frequently unseeded players get to semi-finals in Grand Slam tournaments? The price matches quality of product on the developed market. Competitive swimming is so far from that.
What is your point, then? If you don’t ever elaborate on your arguments, you may as well not comment at all.
Hosszu got 4 individual golds at Hangzhou, which is better what than anyone else got at that meet. Adjusting rewards to the suit the world ranking may be a thing to consider, but hosszu is the least of your concerns in this respect. Hosszu is ranked number one in the world this season in all the events she won at SCM worlds. Your list indicated that Dressel should get more money than hosszu, even though he got fewer individual golds than hosszu in hangzhou has no number one ranking in any event this season
The only race that I will give Hosszu a credit was her win over Dahlia. I like PGA system when the size of the purse depends on the strength of the field. In swimming if the field happens to be weak but the dominant swimmer wants a good earnings then use a handicap system. So there would be the risk vs reward. If your want to earn good money then work hard otherwise you can lose the competition.
are numbers *that* hard for you to process? Person A got x number of gold medals, person B got y number of gold medals, and they got paid based on those metrics – and there is nothing more to it. If anyone thinks it’s easy to catch her in IM events, go prove that in the pool. So far she’s been meters ahead of the World, because – the beauty of the sport, she reaches the wall meters ahead of the field. And there is no one in the pool who wants her to win, they all want to win themselves.
Yet it is not impossible to beat her, she is only human, she loses ALL THE TIME. Sometimes… Read more »
What about the Titmus litmus?
Uh yeah she is arguably the best swimmer in the meet.
Smoliga brings home record amount of golds but not the most prize $$$. Huh
Most of her Gold’s were relay and the prize money listed here was for individual events.