World Aquatics has unveiled new trophies that will be given to the winners of the 2023 World Aquatics World Cup Series.
The trophies were created in partnership with legendary crystal manufacturers Waterford, which was founded in 1783, went out of business in 1851, and underwent several attempts at revival before finally returning for good in 1947 (though it has faced insolvency several times since).
The company’s most famous outputs include the crystals for the New Year’s Eve Ball that is dropped in Times Square in New York City every year and the bat and ball trophy given to Derek Jeter in his final game at Yankee Stadium.
While the company now produces most of its crystal outside of Ireland, World Aquatics says that the trophies were produced at the company’s home factory in Waterford.
The local competitive swimming club in Waterford is known as the Waterford Crystal Swimming Club.
A description from World Aquatics:
“A swimmer’s cap and goggles take crystal form, a worthy emblem to commemorate a Swimming World Cup victory. Handcrafted in Ireland by Waterford Master Craftsmen, the sculpted hollow blown cap with V-cut goggles sit on a solid crystal base. Finished with a sandblasted logo and gilded details.
The stainless steel base features a deep laser etched logo, event name, and radial layout of the date and name of the winners.”
2023 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup Trophy
2023 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup Trophy
2023 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup Trophy
2023 Season Format
The 2023 World Cup tour will feature every race at every event, with the exception that the distance races will alternate – men’s 1500 in Berlin and Budapest versus men’s 800 in Athens; and women’s 800 in Berlin and Budapest versus women’s 800 in Athens.
Like last year, points will be awarded both for finish order and for how fast the swim is – based on the AQUA Power Points system.
The AQUA points system essentially takes the number of AQUA points a swim is worth, divides by 10, and rounds down to the nearest tenth.
So, for example, a swimmer who places 2nd in the women’s 100 fly with a time of 55.49 (999 AQUA Points) will receive 8 points for finishing 2nd and an additional 9.9 points for the time for a total of 17.9 points.
Prize Money
Swimmers can race as many events as they want at a meet, but a swimmer’s best three scores from each meet will be added together to determine their score for that meet.
The per-meet prize money totals to $112,000 per meet per gender, or $672,000 for the whole series – the same as the 2022 series.
Prize Money For Each Meet – USD (Per Gender)
| Ranking Position at Meet | Prize | Ranking position at Meet | Prize |
| 1 | $12,000 | 11 | $4,900 |
| 2 | $10,000 | 12 | $4,800 |
| 3 | $8,000 | 13 | $4,700 |
| 4 | $6,000 | 14 | $4,600 |
| 5 | $5,500 | 15 | $4,500 |
| 6 | $5,400 | 16 | $4,400 |
| 7 | $5,300 | 17 | $4,300 |
| 8 | $5,200 | 18 | $4,200 |
| 9 | $5,100 | 19 | $4,100 |
| 10 | $5,000 | 20 | $4,000 |
PRIZE MONEY (USD) – OVERALL, Per Gender
A total of $262,000 will be awarded at the end of the series for the top eight swimmers per gender. Last year, the top 10 earned prize money, which brought the total to $278,000 per gender.
| OVERALL RANK | TOTAL (USD) |
| 1 | $100,000 |
| 2 | $70,000 |
| 3 | $30,000 |
| 4 | $15,000 |
| 5 | $14,000 |
| 6 | $12,000 |
| 7 | $11,000 |
| 8 | $10,000 |
Total Guaranteed Prize Money To Be Awarded
- Berlin – $224,000 ($112,00 per gender)
- Athens – $224,000 ($112,00 per gender)
- Budapest – $224,000 ($112,00 per gender)
- Overall Series Rankings – $524,000 ($262,000 per gender)
- Total – $1,196,000
Additional Prize Money
Swimmers can also earn an additional $10,000 for breaking a world record or winning the same event at all three legs of the series (called a “crown”).
There were several crowns in the 2022 series, including Australian Kyle Chalmers, who swept the 100 frees last season (three meets) and the one before (four meets). American Nic Fink won every breaststroke race at last year’s World Cup, giving him three crowns and a $30,000 bonus.
Dylan Carter also picked up three crowns, winning all of the events in the 50 free, 50 back, and 50 fly.
Crowns won during the 2022 World Cup:
- Men’s 50 free – Dylan Carter (Trinidad & Tobago)
- Women’s 50 free – Kasia Wasick (Poland)
- Men’s 100 free – Kyle Chalmers (Australia)
- Women’s 100 free – Siobhan Haughey (Hong Kong)
- Women’s 200 free – Siobhan Haughey (Hong Kong)
- Men’s 50 back – Dylan Carter (Trinidad & Tobago)
- Men’s 100 back – Shaine Casas (USA)
- Men’s 200 back – Shaine Casas (USA)
- Women’s 200 back – Beata Nelson (USA)
- Men’s 50 breast – Nic Fink (USA)
- Women’s 50 breast – Ruta Meilutyte (Lithuania)
- Men’s 100 breast – Nic Fink (USA)
- Women’s 100 breast – Ruta Meilutyte (Lithuania)
- Men’s 200 breast – Nic Fink (USA)
- Men’s 50 fly – Dylan Carter (Trinidad & Tobago)
- Men’s 100 fly – Chad le Clos (South Africa)
- Women’s 100 IM – Beata Nelson (USA)
- Men’s 400 IM – Matthew Sates (South Africa)
2022 Results
Last season, American short course specialist Beata Nelson and Trinidadian Dylan Carter were the top earners, taking home $152,000 and $160,000, respectively.
While it’s not always the case, in 2022 those two swimmers also led the overall series standings.
I think the prize money for a World Record is way too low.
World Aquatics,
You want swimming to become more popular worldwide?
Put all your events LIVE on YouTube no restrictions.
There’s no point staging your events if swimming fans can’t even watch them
And then put every single event separately on your channel, no edit, no cut, even for longer events.
Worlds ugliest trophy, did they model it off Roger from American Dad?
😭
I can’t unsee this now.
Can’t hate them on trying something new imo. I doubt these professionals have any interest in another trophy where the swimmer is about to dive into the pool.
At least it wasn’t marge simpson
It’s for overall winners only right?? They’re not handing these out to the winners of every event? Fun travelling between cities with those…