The FINA Swimming World Cup is an international series of short course (25 m) swimming meets organized by FINA, the International Federation for swimming. The series was started in the 1988/1989, and is open to swimmers from FINA member countries.
The series has traditionally been held in the northern hemisphere's winter-time (October-February range), placing it within the normal short course competition times for many countries (with long course competition predominating in summer months). In some years, the World Cup has been held across a New Year's, leading to dual-year designations for a given series (e.g. "2004-2005 World Cup"), and in other years, the series has been held entirely on one side of a New Year's Day, leading to a single year description. This latter is the current format in place (e.g. the "2010 World Cup").
Currently, the overall 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishers are awarded prize money.
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—Allen Tate (1899–1979)
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