On January 13th, FINA announced the implementation of a new event in the synchronized swimming world: the FINA World Series. The World Series is not simply another meet to add to your calendar, but will rather take into account many smaller competitions and Opens across the world during the season to count towards an overall ranking.

For the 2017 season, here are the events that are registered as part of the World Series:

• Make Up For Ever French Open – March 10-12 (FRA)
• China Open – April 22-24 (CHN)
• Japan Open – April 28-30 (JPN)
• Canada Open – May 2-7 (CAN)
• Spain Open – May 26-28 (ESP)
• Russian National Championships – May (RUS)
• US Open – June 22-24 (USA)
• Suv Parisi – August (UZB)

Any national federation can participate in these events, but each must enter in at least four of these meets to be eligible for the prize money. Additionally, participation in the 2017 FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary is mandatory.

As for the rankings…The best four results per category will be added in order to be given points. We will have four different categories: solo (technical + free), duet (technical + free), mixed duet (technical + free), and teams (technical + free + highlight + combo). Obviously, the federations accumulate more points by participating in more events.

Each federation will then be attributed the following points per event: 1st place = 50pts, 2nd place = 40 pts, 3rd place = 30pts, 4th place = 20pts, 5th place = 15pts, 6th place = 14pts, 7th place = 13pts, 8th place = 12pts, 9th place = 11pts, and 10th place = 10pts.

So let’s say Japan places 1st in free solo and 3rd in technical solo at the French Open, my understanding is that it will get a total of 80 points in the solo category for this meet. Then if Japan places 2nd in only free solo at the US Open, it will get 40 points, and then a combined score of 120 points in the World Series in the solo category.  Again, if Japan only participates in four meets in solo, then these four rankings will all count. If it enters seven meets, the best four out of the seven will be used.

After all eight competitions are over, the top six federations will win a prize money by category only if they have participated in four or more meets. In solo, duet and mixed duet, the prize money will be awarded to the top six athletes (or both athletes in the case of duets). In team, the prize money will be paid to the federation.

This is a pretty neat idea as it will likely bring more focus and participation to all these Open meets. I certainly hope the media coverage will improve as a result as well! I am excited to see where this goes and how many federations will enter the Series.

Article by Christina Marmet