In exactly one month, the FINA Swimming World Cup 2022 will begin in Berlin (October 21 – 23). Eight of the biggest stars in swimming have now confirmed their participation to the world federation FINA not only for the opening event in the German capital, but also for the following stops in Toronto (CAN/28 – 30 October) and Indianapolis (USA/03 – 05 November).
This already guarantees the World Cup tour an exciting battle for the prize money totaling 1.2 million US dollars. In addition, short course world records will be rewarded with a bonus of 10,000 US dollars. A particularly hot candidate for this is Thomas Ceccon, because the Italian has not only won two World Championship titles in Budapest (HUN) and four European Championship titles at his home event in Rome (ITA) this year, but also improved the world record in the 100m backstroke to 51.60 seconds in Hungary in June. The best time on the 25m track is 48.33 seconds and was set by Coleman Stewart (USA) in 2021 – but no record seems to be safe from Ceccon this year.
Besides Australia’s sprint star Kyle Chalmers, Hong Kong’s high-flyer Siobhan Haughey, Sweden’s European champion Louise Hansson and South Africa’s last year’s overall winner Matthew Sates, Nic Fink (USA) and Kylie Masse (CAN) will start their short track season in Berlin. Furthermore, last year’s winner of Berlin, Anastasia Gorbenko (ISR), has registered for the complete World Cup. After the still somewhat surprising success in the swimming and diving hall in the Europasportpark (SSE), the 19-year-old has meanwhile won further gold medals at the short course World Championships in Abu Dhabi (UAE) and the European Championships in Rome. She is now possibly even aiming for the overall World Cup victory this year.
The athletes can not only look forward to short course races at the highest level at the World Cup, but also to the World Cup Experience program in each of the cities, which also offers them special experiences outside the pools. “Not only did I set a world record at last year’s swimming World Cup, but the experience both inside and outside the competition arena has helped turn some rivalries into friendships,” reported Kyle Chalmers, for example. For example, Josha Salchow from Heidelberg is currently spending a year abroad in Australia to train with Olympic champion Chalmers.
Sweden’s Louise Hansson said that Berlin, Toronto and Indianapolis are among her all-time favorite places to race. “I am really looking forward to swimming the whole World Cup series this year. I’ve been to all three pools and had a great experience at each place,” Hansson said. “Berlin is one of my favorite pools and has been for many years. Last year I swam at the World Cup in Berlin and set several personal best times, so I’m really looking forward to being back this year and having fans in the stands.”
Secure tickets now for the double World Cup in Berlin
For the first time, the FINA Swimming World Cup (October 21-23) and the FINA Diving World Cup (October 20-23) will be held simultaneously at the same venue in Berlin at the end of October. Tickets for this world premiere are available now. Day tickets from Friday to Sunday (October 21 – 23) cost 29.00 euros in advance or 32.00 euros at the box office – they allow you to visit both the swimming and the water jumping competitions. For the Thursday (20 October), on which only competitions in the water jumping take place, the maps cost 15,00 euro in the advance booking or 18,00 euro locally. It becomes still more favorable with the season ticket for all four days: This costs 90.00 euro in the advance booking or 100.00 euro at the box office. Attractive group discounts of up to 15 percent are also available when ordering at least five tickets.
