The 2026 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup will traverse the historic Silk Road Tour, featuring three cities in Eurasia. The three weeks of racing next October will bring world-class racing to Baku, Azerbaijan; Tashkent, Uzbekistan; and Astana, Kazakhstan. This unique tour highlights the centuries-old trade and cultural connections that once linked East and West, echoing the global spirit of competitive swimming.
Following a record-breaking Swimming World Cup 2025 season across North America, next year’s Swimming World Cup tour heads back east to Asia for an ideal competitive lead-in to the 18th edition of the World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m) in the Chinese capital of Beijing as athlete chase personal bests, World Records, triple crown bonuses and the coveted titles for the top male and female swimmers on the 2026 World Cup.
Stop 1 – Baku, Azerbaijan | 1-3 October 2026
The tour opens in Baku, a gateway city on the western edge of the Silk Road along the Caspian Sea. Historically a hub for caravans transporting silk, spices, and other goods to Europe, Baku’s vibrant history of commerce and cultural exchange mirrors the international nature of the Swimming World Cup.
Baku stands as more than the starting point of the Swimming World Cup 2026 circuit: it also marks the first time Azerbaijan has held a World Aquatics event. That doesn’t mean that Baku’s Aquatic Palace is a stranger to elite-level aquatics, though, as it hosted the 2015 European Games, 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games and the 2019 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival.
“Baku’s selection as the opening stop of the Swimming World Cup 2026 is a remarkable milestone for aquatics in our country,” said Azerbaijan Swimming Federation President Zaur Aliyev. “The Aquatic Palace has welcomed several major international events over the past decade, and hosting a World Aquatics competition for the first time elevates our ambitions to a new level. We look forward to welcoming the world’s strongest swimmers to Azerbaijan and showcasing our commitment to growing the sport, inspiring young athletes, and strengthening our partnership with World Aquatics.”
Stop 2 – Tashkent, Uzbekistan | 8-10 October 2026
Tashkent, at the heart of the Silk Road, has long been a hub for trade and cultural interaction across Central Asia. Its bustling bazaars, caravanserais, and historic sites reflect centuries of connection between East and West, making it a fitting venue for the second stop of the tour, where athletes from around the globe will come together in competition.
Tashkent returns to the global aquatics stage after having hosted two consecutive editions of the World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup from 2017 to 2018.
The upcoming Swimming World Cup marks the first time Uzbekistan has hosted an international swimming competition. The Uzbek capital is well equipped for its starring role in next year’s Swimming World Cup, having the recently built “Aquatic Palace” within its renowned Olympic-town development.
In recent years, Tashkent has also been a popular host of a diverse range of elite sports events, including the Judo Grand Prix and Grand Slam events, various World and Asian Cups in karate and other martial arts, and the Tashkent Marathon.
Stop 3 – Astana, Kazakhstan | 15-17 October 2026
The tour concludes in Astana, Kazakhstan’s modern capital, set in a region historically crossed by northern Silk Road routes. Astana represents both the legacy of Central Asian trade and the city’s contemporary role as a hub of international connection, providing a striking finale for the three-week Silk Road Tour of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup.
The Swimming World Cup will mark the fourth time Kazakhstan has hosted a World Aquatics event, following three global water polo tournaments in the 2010s. With the Barys Arena Pool situated in the Kazakhstan capital, Astana, the city is well-equipped to host major international events, having recently hosted the Modern Pentathlon World Cup Finals, the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships, and the UCI Track Cycling World Cup. In 2026, Astana will also host the Games of the Future.
“Welcome to Kazakhstan — your first step into the steppe, where the spirit of the Silk Road meets the flow of our waters,” said Rio 2016 Olympic 200m breaststroke champion and secretary general of the Kazakhstan Swimming Federation, Dmitriy Balandin. “We greet every swimmer as warmly as travellers once welcomed one another along this ancient Silk Road.”
Reigning Swimming World Cup Winner Hubert Kos Calls the Silk Road Tour “New” and “Exciting”
Perhaps no one had a more dominant run through the 2025 Swimming World Cup than Hubert Kos of Hungary. The World and Olympic champion swept through the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke events for consecutive wins. He also set two World Records – in the 100m and 200m backstroke – on his way to winning the Men’s Overall Swimming World Cup honours for the first time in 2025.
"The 2025 tour was an incredible experience for me, and I’m proud of the way I raced throughout the season, from the Singapore Worlds through to an undefeated Swimming World Cup tour," said Kos. "Next year’s Silk Road route is something completely new, and that’s exciting. While my schedule for the upcoming year is still being finalised, competing in three cities with such deep history will definitely add a different and unique dimension to the World Cup.”
World Aquatics President Husain Al Musallam also welcomed the Silk Road Tour announcement, saying:
“We are thrilled and deeply honoured to be bringing the Swimming World Cup to such historic and culturally relevant cities as Baku, Tashkent and Astana. The Silk Road Tour will be a departure from business-as-usual World Cups, opening up the world’s best swimmers to new areas where their performances will be celebrated and even cherished by the local patrons. One of the beauties of having a compact Swimming World Cup in recent years has been seeing the closeness and camaraderie among the swimmers competing on tour.
“We look forward to welcoming swimming fans from around the globe and providing an unforgettable experience for all.”
Big Performances, Big Paydays | Prize Pool Payout on the 2026 Silk Road Tour
The Swimming World Cup 2026 tour is set to feature an impressive prize pool of $1.2 million USD, excluding bonuses for World Records and other performance incentives. Over 750 athletes from more than 50 nations will compete for a slice of this substantial prize pool. Notably, World Record-setters and coveted Crown winners will receive $10,000 USD for each exceptional performance.
In the previous season, competitors seized the opportunity to showcase their talents by breaking 12 World Records, equalling one, and achieving 23 crowns. This resulted in a total prize payout of $1.57 million USD, illustrating the stakes and excitement surrounding the event.