Matthew Sates triumphs again at the FINA Swimming World Cup in Berlin

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Berlin is becoming more and more his favorite city, just like last year Matthew Sates won the FINA Swimming World Cup here once more. The 19-year-old South African was able to increase his weekend record in the German capital to four wins on Sunday with impressive performances over 400m individual medley (4:02.95 minutes) and 200m freestyle (1:40.88). On the previous days he had already been the fastest in the 200m individual medley and 400m freestyle. “This is perhaps the fastest pool in the world, the fans are breathtaking,” said Sates. “I’m happy, it feels very good. I leave Berlin with a smile on my face.”

By the way, he wants to donate the $12,000 bonus for winning the World Cup opener. “It would be nice if I could give something back and do good with the money from my community, Pietermaritzburg (RSA). We have a lot of homeless people, a lot of children who can’t swim, so I’d like to help,” said Sates. So the swimmer also has a big heart.

Only the three best races are counted in the World Cup ranking, but in addition to the maximum possible 30 placement points, Sates also collected the most FINA points, which put the times in different disciplines in relation to the world record. In the end, Dylan Carter was powerless too, although the new sprint star from Trinidad and Tobago even managed the 50m hattrick at the end and after winning the 50m freestyle and 50m backstroke previously also won the 50m butterfly. In 22.13 seconds, the man from the Caribbean left the two-time Berlin butterfly winner Chad le Clos (22.21) behind and secured second place in the meeting ranking including a prize of 10,000 US dollars.

In the end, Nic Fink was also powerless against Sates, although the American made the sweep on the breaststroke perfectly on Sunday and also won the 200m in 2:05.74 minutes. Former world champion Marco Koch had been in the lead here for a long time and in the end only had to admit defeat to the world champion by a tiny hundredth. “I tried everything, I can be satisfied with the time. Whether I’m on the way up again after a difficult year will only be seen in the next few weeks,” said the 32-year-old chef, who was slowed down by Corona in the previous season.

Another highlight of the final day was the duel over 100m backstroke, which Shaine Casas (USA) won in 49.54 seconds, just ahead of Italy’s world and European champion on the long track, Thomas Ceccon (49.62).

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