Russian, Belarusian Athletes Will Receive Worlds Prize Money; Will Have “Neutral” Records

World Aquatics and Russian sporting officials have confirmed two administrative points regarding the results of the World Short Course Swimming Championships in Budapest, where swimmers from Russia, Belarus, and Mexico competed under a neutral banner.

Neutral Athlete Records

The first is that any World Records set by athletes from those countries at the meet will be credited to “neutral athletes.” That includes the men’s 400 medley relay record where the neutral athletes holding Russian passports swam 3:18.68. The official listed country that will hold the record is “Neutral Athletes B,” which were athletes with Russian passports.

Neutral athletes with Belarusian passports were “Neutral Athletes A” and neutral athletes with Mexican passports were “Neutral Athletes C” at the meet.

This creates kind of a peculiar distinction, because when Russian athletes set World Records outside of World Aquatics competition, like Kliment Kolesnikov’s 22.11 in the 50 back, the records were credited to “Russia” because at that meet, athletes were not required to represent “neutral athletes” – a subtle difference.

While “neutral athletes” don’t have a continent, World Aquatics confirmed that they will still be recognized on the continents where their passports are from. So if everything is approved, Russian swimmers will set European Records – at least based on World Aquatics’ record keeping.

Neutral Athletes Prize Money

In an interview with Russian state-run news outlet TASS, Vladimir Salnikov says that athletes will receive their prize money from World Aquatics.

“We [the Russian swimming body] are tackling this matter head on, and it will be settled within the framework of cooperation,” Salnikov said.

Neutral Athletes B amassed the third-most prize money at the meet with $220,500, behind only the United States ($974,000) and Canada ($241,000).

Neutral Athletes A (Belarus) earned $45,000, while Neutral Athletes C (Mexico) earned no dollars with no finals swims from their two entered athletes.

Some Belarus and Russian athletes were allowed to compete under neutral banners at a World Aquatics meet for the first time since the February 2022 invasion in Ukraine if they could disassociate themselves with the war effort.

The Mexican federation was expelled late last year after years of internal political turmoil including “repeated failure…to comply with FINA’s good standards.”

28 Russians, 5 Belarusians, and 2 Mexicans competed at the meet.

Prize Money Earned by Neutral Athletes

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