With less than a year to the Paris Olympics, some of the world’s best swimmers will be competing for big cash payouts across the next three weeks in three European cities - beginning this weekend with Berlin, and continuing next week in Athens, before finishing in Budapest.

Expect some fast racing across the next month as the countdown to Paris gets underway with some long course racing. Here are four storylines to keep an eye out for this coming weekend in the German capital.

Battle of Titans in Men’s 100m Breaststroke

The men’s 100m breaststroke features every possible recent champion this weekend in Berlin. The top man in the world this year has been China’s Qin Haiyang, who became the first man to win the 50m, 100m, and 200m of the same stroke at the same World Championships. Qin is also the second fastest performer all-time in the 100m breaststroke and the world record holder in the 200m. It’s been a busy summer for Qin, racing at the Summer Universiade in August and the Asian Games last week, but he has been on fire.

The race will also feature the 2022 World Champion Nicolo Martinenghi of Italy and last year’s World Short Course Champion Nic Fink of the United States. Those two tied for silver at this year’s Worlds in Fukuoka with Arno Kamminga of the Netherlands, who will also be in Berlin this week. It will be an interesting grudge match between the three of them to try to separate them as they gear up for their first bit of long course racing in this Olympic training cycle.

Last but not least is world record holder and two-time reigning Olympic champ Adam Peaty of Great Britain. Peaty has not been the Peaty of old since winning in Tokyo, battling injuries and his own mental health. But Peaty finished 2022 on the podium at the World Short Course Championships, so when he is on, he is a racer and he won’t back down from a fight. This will be a very tough fight for Peaty, but it will be one that the Berlin faithful won’t want to miss.

Return of the Campbell Sisters

This weekend’s meet in Berlin will also feature the return of World 100m freestyle champions Cate and Bronte Campbell to the mix. The sisters took an extended racing break after the Tokyo Olympics and returned to the racing pool earlier this year, with Cate coming back in April, and Bronte in June.

Both Bronte and Cate have their eyes set on qualifying for the Paris Olympics, as this would be Cate’s fifth trip to the Games and Bronte’s fourth. Australia is stronger than ever right now in the women’s 100m freestyle, largely in part to these two sisters who won each World titles in 2013 and 2015 and helped Australia win three Olympic gold medals in the 4x100m freestyle relay.

Currently, Australia has four in the top ten in the world in the 100m freestyle, but the Campbell sisters will still be competitive this weekend in both the 50m and 100m freestyle as they will line up against some of their long-time rivals. Even as they both approach their 30s, they are still two of the best sprinters in the world, and will look to start their Olympic preparation this weekend with some valuable long course racing.

Sarah Sjostrom’s Return to the 100m Butterfly

Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom has been a two-time World Cup winner in her career in 2017 and 2018, and looks to be a strong contender to win that crown again in 2023. Sjostrom, who turned 30 a few weeks after breaking her own world record in the 50m freestyle, will be racing the 50m free and butterfly in which she won World titles in July, as well as the 100m freestyle and butterfly.

Sjostrom did not race either 100m race at the Worlds in July, but her 52.24 lead-off on the first day of the Championships put her at number three in the world for the year. Not swimming the 100m in Fukuoka may have cost her a medal but she was able to swim fresh for the 50m freestyle and butterfly on the last two days where she was largely unchallenged.

Sjostrom will line up alongside Hong Kong, China’s Siobhan Haughey, who went 52.17 to win the Asian Games last week, and Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands, who won the bronze in Fukuoka at 52.71.

Sjostrom hasn’t raced the 100m butterfly since April 2022 but will be returning this weekend to the event that brought her her first-ever Olympic gold medal in 2016. Sjostrom still holds the world record at 55.48 but hasn’t been under 56 seconds since winning the World title in 2017. The event has gotten a lot more crowded in recent years and Sjostrom has backed away from the event since she broke her elbow before the Tokyo Olympics, but will be giving the event another go this weekend in Berlin where she will line up alongside 2023 World champ Zhang Yufei of China, who is fresh off a 55.86 at the Asian Games, and 2022 World champ Torri Huske.

Kaylee McKeown and Ruta Meilutyte Ready Themselves for Big Potential Paydays

With a lot of prize money on the line over the next three weeks, expect some of the biggest stars to receive a big paycheck by the end of the competition in Budapest. With nine total days of racing and eighteen competition sessions, it’s going to be busy, but it will be rewarding for those who make it to the finals.

Australia’s Kaylee McKeown, who became the first woman to win the 50m, 100m, and 200m of the same stroke at the same World Championships this year, is entered in all three backstroke races plus the 200m IM, an event where she was a gold medal favourite in Fukuoka before getting disqualified in the semi-finals. McKeown is one of the top swimmers in the entire world at the moment, holding world records in both the 100m and 200m backstroke. It will be interesting what sort of time she can post this week in the 200m IM because if she is on form, then it should be nearing Kate Douglass’s 2:07.17 that she swam to win the gold medal in July.

Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte also had a big summer, dominating both the 50m and 100m breaststroke races this summer at the World Championships, looking like the swimmer she was in 2013 when she broke the world record in the 50m. Meilutyte is tough to beat at the moment as well and appears to be the heavy favourite to collect two triple crowns in those races. With extra prize money attached to world records, will she be able to take a stab at her own record in the 50m or perhaps take down Lilly King’s 1:04.13 from 2017 in the 100m?

The Schedule | What's Coming in Berlin