SWIMMING Preview: Cast remains the same for World Cup II

The FINA Swimming World Cup will finish its first meet “cluster” this week in Doha (QAT) at the Hamad Aquatic Center, also the last of the seven meets to be held in an Olympic-sized, 50 m pool.

The entries show that essentially the same cast of characters seen at the opener in Kazan (RUS) will be on hand to contest the 34 events on the schedule:

∙ Sweden’s defending women’s World Cup champion, Sarah Sjostrom, won five events in Kazan and has the points lead (60-36) after the first meet;

∙ Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu also won five events, but competed in 10 (!) individual events and was the leading money winner (by our calculations) at $11,500 in Kazan.

∙ Russian Vladimir Morozov, the 2016 World Cup winner, took three events in Kazan and scored 54 points;

∙ American Michael Andrew won six medals, including a win in the 100 m Fly, seconds in the 50 m Free, 50-100 Backs and 50 m Fly, plus a third in the 50 m Breaststroke. That earned him 30 points and he got 12 bonus points for his third-ranked 24.49 in the 50 m Back for 42 total.

∙ Australia’s Mitch Larkin won three events for 36 points.

Blake Pieroni of the U.S. also competed, winning the 200 m Free, plus second in the 100 m Free and fourth in the 50 m Free. He’s also on the entry list for Doha.

While the FINA World Cup regulations allow points to be scored in a maximum of three events, but do not cap the prize money; cash prizes of $1,500-1,000-500-400-300-200 are available in individual events and $3,000-2,000-1,000 for relays. Look for results here.