High tension in the Berlin SSE arena: In the last final section of the FINA Swimming World Cup in the German capital, the decision in the meeting ranking will be made on Sunday (7:00 p.m. in the live stream on All Aquatics). Three races of each athlete are included in the ranking, which are made up of placement points and FINA points (which put the times in relation to the respective world record). In the end, $12,000 each goes to the best male and female, followed by $10,000 for second place and $8,000 for third place. This runs all the way to 20th place, for which 4,000 US dollars are still being paid out. So every tenth can be worth a pretty penny. We can expect competitive races in the afternoon.
>> To the overall World Cup standings
Beata Nelson (USA) is the leader in the women’s ranking, but unlike some of her rivals she already has three races in the standings. As fifth in the heats over 200m backstroke and 200m IM it may be difficult for her to improve. After winning the 400m and 200m freestyle, Siobhan Haughay (HKG) is also swimming towards success in the 100m freestyle. In 52.41 seconds, the short course world champion was clearly the fastest on Sunday. “Berlin is my first World Cup ever. I really just came here to put in a good competition and get some yards on the short course. Being up there in the points classification is just the icing on the cake,” said Nelson. “I only think about points when I’m through here. Now I’m just trying to focus on one race at a time.”
In the men’s category, leader Matthew Sates (RSA) underscored his ambitions of defending his title as the fastest in the 200m freestyle (1:43.17 minutes). Dylan Carter (TTO) was also ahead in the 50m butterfly (22.61), where Chad le Clos(RSA), sixth so far (22.84), definitely needs to do more for the overall ranking in the evening.
The athletes of the German Swimming Federation (DSV) are then again represented in four finals with good prospects. Angelina Köhler over 100m butterfly (57.73), Marius Kusch over 50m butterfly (22.64) and Marco Kochover 200m breaststroke (2:07.71 minutes) all came in third in their respective heats. Isabel Gose and Sarah Wellbrock also have chances for a medal again in the fastest heat over 800m freestyle.
“This year was really difficult. After I had Covid, somehow I forgot how to strain myself, or my body just didn’t allow it. Whenever I tried to shift from fourth to fifth gear, nothing happened. That’s why I took a very long summer break, during which I also oriented myself a bit differently with alternative training in triathlon,” said former world champion Koch. “I’ve been training in the water again for almost six or seven weeks and it’s actually going quite well. I rediscovered fifth gear, at least partially.” Hopefully in the final as well.
400m European Champion Lukas Märtens said goodbye without making a final appearance. He was 26th in the 200m freestyle (1:46.72), and Florian Wellbrock (1:48.72) also had no chance here the morning after yesterday’s triumph in the 1500m freestyle. The two swimmers from Magdeburg could not train as usual because of the basic training for the Bundeswehr and will now end the short course season and also forgo a start at the short course world championships in Melbourne (AUS/December 13th – 18th). “A trip to Melbourne would mean too much effort for little profit for me,” explained Märtens. “You end up tying yourself down for two or three weeks with travel, time adjustments, etc., and for me short trains are still associated with imponderables. That’s why we prefer to focus on training this fall.”
