The 4th FINA World Aquatics Gala Soirée des Etoiles (Evening of the Stars) will be held in China on December 2nd where FINA will announce its best aquatic athletes of the year.

The selection process incorporates the points collected at the most important FINA events. In the case of open water swimmers, the point system includes their placing at the 2017 FINA World Championships, on the FINA/HOSA 10K Marathon Swimming World Cup circuit, and on the FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix circuit given to the top 12 open water swimmers.

FINA World Championships points:
1st 180
2nd 140
3rd 130
4th 100
5th 90
6th 80
7th 70
8th 60
9th 40
10th 35
11th 30
12th 25

FINA/HOSA 10K Marathon Swimming World Cup points:
1st 120
2nd 90
3rd 80
4th 60
5th 50
6th 40
7th 35
8th 30
9th 25
10th 20
11th 15
12th 10

FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix points:
1st 80
2nd 70
3rd 60
4th 40
5th 35
6th 25
7th 20
8th 15
9th 10
10th 8
11th 6
12th 4

So, for example, 2016 FINA Open Water Swimmer of the Year Ferry Weertman of the Netherlands picked up 180 points for his 10 km gold medal victory at the 2017 FINA World Championships and 50 points for his 5th place ranking on the FINA/HOSA 10K Marathon Swimming World Cup circuit for a total of 230 points.

Simone Ruffini collected 70 points for his 7th place finish in the 5 km at the FINA World Championships 5 km, 100 for his 7th place finish in the FINA World Championships 25 km, 130 points for his FINA World Championships 5 km team relay bronze medal and 120 points for his #1 ranking in the FINA/HOSA 10K Marathon Swimming World Cup for a total of 420 points.

Marc-Antoine Olivier of France earn 180 points for his 5 km gold medal victory at the FINA World Championships, 130 points for his 10 km bronze medal at the FINA World Championships, and 180 points for his FINA World Championships 5 km team relay gold medal for a total of 490 points.

But it is unknown if the relay points are included at all or in part or in total, so it will be interesting to learn of the outcome on December 2nd based on the following results:

2017 FINA World Swimming Championships 5 km Top 12:
1. Marc-Antoine Olivier (France) 54:31.40
2. Mario Sanzullo (Italy) 54:32.10
3. Timothy Shuttleworth (Great Britain) 54:42.10
4. Kirill Abrosimov (Russia) 54:45.90
5. Fernando Ponte (Brazil) 54:47.10
6. Andrea Manzi (Italy) 54:47.60
7. Kristof Rasovszky (Hungary) 54:47.60
8. Logan Fontaine (France) 54:47.90
9. Vitaliy Khudyakov (Kazakhstan) 54:48.10
10. David Heron (USA) 54:48.20
11. Chad Ho (South Africa) 54:48.60
12. Krzysztof Pielowski (Poland) 54:52.00

2017 FINA World Swimming Championships 10 km Top 12:
1 Ferry Weertman (Netherlands) 1:51:58.50
2 Jordan Wilimovsky (USA) 1:51:58.60
3 Marc-Antoine Olivier (France) 1:51:59.20
4 Jack Burnell (Great Britain) 1:52:00.80
5 Kristóf Rasovszky (Hungary) 1:52:01.70
6 David Aubry (France) 1:52:01.90
7 Simone Ruffini (Italy) 1:52:07.70
8 Evgenii Drattcev (Russia) 1:52:10.10
9 Brendan Casey (USA) 1:52:18.60
10 Federico Vanelli (Italy) 1:52:21.00
11 Krzysztof Pielowski (Poland) 1:52:24.50
12 Christian Martin Reichert (Germany) 1:52:29.30

2017 FINA World Swimming Championships 25 km Top 12:
1. Axel Reymond (France) 5:02:46.40
2. Matteo Furlan (Italy) 5:02:47.00
3. Evgenii Drattcev (Russia) 5:02:49.80
4. Simone Ruffini (Italy) 5:02:53.10
5. Chip Peterson (USA) 5:03:43.00
6. Gergely Gyurta (Hungary) 5:04:00.70
7. Vitaliy Khudyakov (Kazakhstan) 5:04:36.10
8. Sergey Bolshakov (Russia) 5:04:49.80
9. Marcel Schouten (Netherlands) 5:04:53.00
10. Andreas Waschburger (Germany) 5:06:14.10
11. Soren Detlef Meissner (Germany) 5:06:20.40
12. Evgenij Pop Acev (Macedonia) 5:06:23.40

2017 FINA/HOSA 10K Marathon Swimming World Cup Top 12:
1. Simone Ruffini (Italy) 85 points
2. Federico Vanelli (Italy) 78 points
2. Allan do Carmo (Brazil) 78 points
4. Kristof Rasovszky (Hungary) 68 points
5. Rob Muffels (Germany) 58 points
5. Ferry Weertman (Netherlands) 58 points
7. Christian Reichert (Germany) 40 points
8. David Aubry (France) 32 points
8. Soren Meissner (Germany) 32 points
10. Fernando Ponte (Brazil) 30 points
10. Andreas Waschburger (Germany) 30 points
12. Marcel Schouten (Netherlands) 25 points

2017 FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix Top 12:
1. Evgenij Pop Acev (Macedonia) 43 points
1. Guillermo Bertola (Argentina) 43 points
3. Damian Blaum (Argentina) 34 points
4. Alexander Studzinski (Germany) 32 points
5. Edoardo Stochino (Italy) 28 points
6. Xavier Desharnais (Canada) 23 points
7. Matheus Evangelista (Brazil) 16 points
8. Edouard Lehoux (France) 14 points
9. Aquiles Balaudo (Argentina) 12 points
10. Aleksandar Ilievski (Macedonia) 10 points
11. Bertrand Venturi (France) 9 points
12. Matias Diaz Hernandez (Argentina) 7 points

2017 FINA World Swimming Championships 5 km Team Relay Top 12:
1. France with David Aubry + Oceane Maryse Jeannie Cassignol + Aurélie Muller + Marc-Antoine Olivier 54:05.9
2. USA with Haley Anderson + Andrew Gemmell + Ashley Twichell + Jordan Wilimovsky 54.18.1
3. Italy with Rachele Bruni + Giulia Gabbrielleschi + Simone Ruffini + Federico Vanelli 54.31.0
4. Australia with Jack Brazier + Kareena Lee + Jack Alan McLoughlin + Kiah Melverton 54:42.9
5. Great Britain with Jack Burnell + Alice Dearing + Danielle Huskisson + Tobias Patrick Robinson 54:51.1
6. Brazil with Ana Marcela Cunha + Allan do Carmo + Betina Lorscheitter + Fernando Ponte 55:19.6
7. Hungary with Janka Juhasz + Anna Olasz + Mark Papp + Kristóf Rasovszky 55:23.7
8. Germany with Leonie Beck + Soren Detlef Meissner + Rob Muffels + Finnia Wunram
9. Japan with Yasunari Hirai + Yohsuke Miyamoto + Yukimi Moriyama + Minami Niikura 55:54.0
10. Russia with Kirill Abrosimov + Kirill Belyaev + Valeriia Ermakova + Mariia Novikova 55:55.1
11. Canada with Eric Hedlin + Stephanie Horner + Breanne Emma Joan Siwicki + Richard Weinberger 55:58.3
12. South Africa with Chad Ho + Robyn Kinghorn + Nico Manoussakis + Danie Marais 56:05.3

FINA President Dr. Julio Maglione announced, “Our best athletes…deserve the highest recognition and this special evening will pay tribute to their success.” The Best Athletes of the Year for open water swimming as well as in pool swimming, water polo, diving, and artistic swimming, will be formally announced at the FINA World Aquatics Gala.”

The list of previous winners are below:

2016 Ferry Weertman (Netherlands)

2015 Jordan Wilimovsky (USA)

2014 Allan do Carmo (Brazil)

2013 Thomas Lurz (Germany)

2012 Oussama Mellouli (Tunisia)

2011 Thomas Lurz (Germany)

2010 Valerio Cleri (Italy)

For information on the women’s side, visit here.

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