LAUSANNE, Switzerland, November 19. HEADING into the final stop in Belo Horizonte, the FINA World Cup released its latest World Cup standings. With a pair of world records in Berlin, Sweden's Stefan Nystrand made a move on the ever-consistent Randall Bal of the United States.
Bal remained in the lead with 136 points, but Nystrand jumped from outside the top three into second with 101 points. Russia's Nikolay Skvortsov completed the top three with 65 points.
Sweden's Therese Alshammar extended her lead (110-70) over the United States' Natalie Coughlin, who will return to the World Cup series at the final stop. Coughlin will need an incredible effort to overtake Alshammar for the top prize, but may have done enough in the first few stops to secure a solid pay day. The Netherlands' Marleen Velhuis parlayed her world record performance in Berlin into third with 65 points.
While there are various other event-win and world-record bonuses included in the prize money allocated for the World Cup series, the overall winners receive $100,000, while those placing second and third overall will receive $50,000 and $30,000, respectively.