Although the majority of elite athletes having been invited to participate in the inaugural FINA Champions Series have been announced, several more continue to trickle in. Just last week Australian Olympian Bronte Campbell revealed she was now on the list for the 3-stop circuit, and now the first 3 Asian swimmers have been added to the Champions Series roster.
According to Asian news source Nikkan Sports, World Record holder Ippei Watanabe, 2016 Olympic silver medalist Masato Sakai and triple medalist from the 2012 Olympic Games Ryosuke Irie have now been confirmed as FINA Champions Series swimmers.
Watanabe is the reigning World Record holder in the 200m breaststroke, having set the mark at a historic 2:06.67 at the Kosuke Kitajima Cup in 2017. Sakai came oh-so-close to snagging 200m butterfly gold ahead of American Michael Phelps at the 2016 Olympic Games, falling just .04 short.
For Irie, the 29-year-old backstroking ace is nothing short of a Japanese swimming legend, having amassed 3 Olympic medals, 8 Pan Pacific Championships medals, 4 World Championships medals and 14 Asian Games medals over the course of his storied career.
The Champions Series is slated for Hangzhou, China on April 27th and 28th, Budapest, Hungary on May 11th and 12th, as well as Indianapolis, Indiana, USA on June 1st. The series offers over $3.9 million in prize money was announced in December in what seemed to be a direct response to the rise of the International Swimming League (ISL).