Note: in earlier articles during our coverage of the Champions Series meet, we incorrectly applied the relay prize money to all events. The prize money for the 2020 series will mirror the 2019 series. The information below reflects the correct prize money.
Almost $2 million in prize money is up for grabs over the next 2 weeks in China as 70+ of the world’s top swimmers head to Shenzen and Beijing to dash for cash.
- See full 2020 series details here.
- Entry Lists
- Meet 1: January 14th-15th, Shenzen, China
- Meet 2: January 18th-19th, Beijing, China
The prize money for this year’s meet will remain the same as the 2019 series, with $29,000 available in each of 28 individual events (for $812,000 total), plus an additional $32,000-per-meet available to relay swimmers. That adds up to $844,000-per-meet, plus a $20,000 bonus for all World Records set (though World Records seem unlikely).
2020 FINA Champions Series Prize Money – Individual Events (x28):
- 1st place – $10,000
- 2nd place – $8,000
- 3rd place – $6,000
- 4th place – $5,000
- World Record Bonus – $20,000
2020 FINA Champions Series Prize Money – Relays (x2):
- 1st place – $16,000
- 2nd place – $12,000
- 3rd place – $8,000
- 4th place – $6,000
The prize money above is in addition to engagement fees that FINA is paying to athletes in exchange for their participation in supporting events like press conferences.
Each race will have 4 swimmers, and all 4 swimmers will score points. There are no “series” bonuses, and no minimum time standards that have to be met in order to earn money.
Last season, Sarah Sjostrom led all athletes with $104,000 in earnings, though she’s not participating in this year’s series. Katinka Hosszu was 2nd with $87,000, and Michael Andrew was 3rd with $60,000 earned. The 4th-best earner, Chad le Clos, also is not participating this year.
Last season, with 3 meets, the United States won the most prize money as a group – almost doubling Russia. This year, with the hosts China bringing the most athletes to the meet, they should lead that category.
2019 Series Prize Money Table – Overall (3 meets)
| NAME | COUNTRY |
TOTAL MONEY (AFTER INDY DAY 2)
|
| Sarah Sjostrom | Sweden | $148,000 |
| Katinka Hosszu | Hungary | $123,000 |
| Michael Andrew | USA | $103,500 |
| Danas Rapsys | Lithuania | $61,000 |
| Vlad Morozov | Russia | $60,500 |
| Yulia Efimova | Russia | $59,500 |
| Ranomi Kromowidjojo | Netherlands | $57,000 |
| Kelsi Dahlia | USA | $53,000 |
| Anton Chupkov | Russia | $52,000 |
| Molly Hannis | USA | $52,000 |
| Pernille Blume | Denmark | $51,000 |
| Chad le Clos | South Africa | $48,000 |
| Matt Grevers | USA | $43,000 |
| Anastasia Fesikova | Russia | $42,000 |
| Penny Oleksiak | Canada | $42,000 |
| Farida Osman | Egypt | $39,000 |
| Kliment Kolesnikov | Russia | $39,000 |
| Nicholas Santos | Brazil | $39,000 |
| Pieter Timmers | Belgium | $39,000 |
| Ben Proud | Great Britain | $38,000 |
| Emily Seebohm | Australia | $37,000 |
| Jacob Pebley | USA | $35,000 |
| Lilly King | USA | $34,500 |
| Li Bingjie | China | $34,000 |
| Georgia Davies | Great Britain | $31,000 |
| Kylie Masse | Canada | $31,000 |
| Robert Glinta | Romania | $31,000 |
| Xu Jiayu | China | $31,000 |
| Fabio Scozzoli | Italy | $30,000 |
| Ryan Murphy | USA | $29,000 |
| Chase Kalisz | USA | $28,000 |
| Margherita Panziera | Italy | $28,000 |
| Andrii Govorov | Ukraine | $27,000 |
| Cate Campbell | Australia | $26,000 |
| Imogen Clark | Great Britain | $26,000 |
| Ye Shiwen | China | $25,000 |
| Gabriele Detti | Italy | $24,000 |
| Etiene Medeiros | Brazil | $23,000 |
| Hali Flickinger | USA | $23,000 |
| Katie Meili | USA | $23,000 |
| Leah Smith | USA | $23,000 |
| Arno Kamminga | Netherlands | $22,000 |
| Joao Gomes Junior | Brazil | $22,000 |
| Townley Haas | USA | $22,000 |
| Wang Jianjiahe | China | $21,000 |
| Wang Shun | China | $21,000 |
| Evgeny Rylov | Russia | $20,000 |
| Fu Yuanhui | China | $20,000 |
| Sun Yang | China | $20,000 |
| Bruno Fratus | Brazil | $19,000 |
| Melanie Margalis | USA | $19,000 |
| Felipe Lima | Brazil | $18,000 |
| Kristof Milak | Hungary | $18,000 |
| Masato Sakai | Japan | $18,000 |
| Josh Prenot | USA | $16,500 |
| Laszlo Cseh | Hungary | $16,000 |
| Qin Haiyang | China | $16,000 |
| Ryosuke Irie | Japan | $16,000 |
| Andrei Minakov | Russia | $15,000 |
| Anthony Ervin | USA | $15,000 |
| Dmitriy Balandin | Kazakhstan | $15,000 |
| Piero Codia | Italy | $15,000 |
| Siobhan O’Connor | Great Britain | $15,000 |
| Aleksandr Krasnykh | Russia | $14,000 |
| Federica Pellegrini | Italy | $14,000 |
| Ippei Watanabe | Japan | $14,000 |
| Jeremy Desplanches | Switzerland | $14,000 |
| Justin Ress | USA | $14,000 |
| Li Zhuhao | China | $14,000 |
| Yu Jingyao | China | $14,000 |
| Jack Conger | USA | $13,000 |
| Mykhailo Romanchuk | Ukraine | $13,000 |
| Ajna Kesely | Hungary | $12,000 |
| Cody Miller | USA | $12,000 |
| Dana Vollmer | USA | $12,000 |
| Zach Harting | USA | $11,500 |
| Holly Hibbott | Great Britain | $11,000 |
| Micah Sumrall | USA | $11,000 |
| Zhang Yuhan | China | $11,000 |
| Bethany Galat | USA | $10,000 |
| Kevin Cordes | USA | $10,000 |
| Mehdy Metella | France | $10,000 |
| Yufei Zhang | China | $10,000 |
| Philip Heintz | Germany | $9,000 |
| Eszter Bekesi | Hungary | $8,000 |
| Franziska Hentke | Germany | $8,000 |
| Justin Wright | USA | $8,000 |
| Kim Seoyeong | Korea | $8,000 |
| Liu Xiang | China | $8,000 |
| Peng Xuwei | China | $8,000 |
| Seoyeong Kim | South Korea | $8,000 |
| Boglarka Kapas | Hungary | $6,000 |
| Dominik Kosma | Hungary | $6,000 |
| Feng Junyang | China | $6,000 |
| He Yun | China | $6,000 |
| Jack McLoughlin | Australia | $6,000 |
| Li Guanguan | China | $6,000 |
| Liu Yaxin | China | $6,000 |
| Ross Murdoch | Great Britain | $6,000 |
| Veronika Andrusenko | Russia | $6,000 |
| Wang Yizhe | China | $6,000 |
| Zhou Min | China | $6,000 |
| Alys Margaret Thomas | Great Britain | $5,000 |
| Katalin Burian | Hungary | $5,000 |
| Oleg Kostin | Russia | $5,000 |
| Peter Bernek | Hungary | $5,000 |
| Wang Zhou | China | $5,000 |
| Zhang Sishi | China | $5,000 |
| Zsuzsanna Jakabos | Hungary | $5,000 |
| He Junyi | China | $4,000 |
| Sydney Pickrem | Canada | $2,000 |