The World Aquatics has announced a three-stop Swimming World Cup Series for 2024 that will take place in Southeast Asia. This decision comes after successful series held in Europe and North America in 2023 and 2022, respectively. The three meets will be held in Shanghai, China from October 18-20, Incheon, South Korea from October 24-26, and Singapore from October 31 to November 2.

The compact three-meet series seems to be a response to the increasingly crowded international swimming calendar. Since its peak of 12 stops around the turn of the century, the series has seen a decrease in stops due to logistical challenges. The return of the post-Olympic series to its traditional short course meters format is also noteworthy as it prepares for the upcoming 2024 World Short Course Swimming Championships to be held in Budapest, Hungary.

Incheon, which hosted the 2014 Asian Games, is a new addition to the World Cup Series. Shanghai and Singapore have previously hosted events on this platform. China’s Qin Haiyang won the men’s series while Australia’s Kaylee McKeown won the women’s series during the 2023 edition of this tournament.

It is worth noting that China sent most of its elite swimmers to the previous year’s World Cup Series following their participation at the Asian Games. This move could have foreshadowed the decision to hold all three meets of this year’s series in Southeast Asia.