World Cup Berlin, Day 2: Americans Start Finals on Winning Streak

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

World Cup Berlin, Day 2: Americans Start Finals on Winning Streak

The American delegation to the World Aquatics World Cup Berlin got off to a quick start on Saturday, winning the first three races on offer. The session would speed up later in the day, with World Cup records aplenty falling.

Event by event recap of day two of three from :

Women’s 400 IM

Katie Grimes picked up the first American win of the day, going 4:37.20. She was 5.5 seconds ahead of Ageha Tanigawa of Japan finished second in 4:42.73. Third was Boglarka Kapas of Hungary, with Israel’s Anastasia Gorbenko following in fourth.

Men’s 1,500 free

Charlie Clark led most of the way in getting the win in 14:59.21. It’s just his fourth ever swim sub-15 minutes. It was quicker than his time at Worlds in 2022 and was within two seconds of the swim from Worlds last summer that earned him 11th place.

Second was Germany’s Sven Schwarz in 15:01.17. Sweden’s Victor Johansson was third in 15:04.22, then a 15-second gap back to Oliver Klemet.

Men’s 50 backstroke

Michael Andrew picked up the third straight American victory to start the session. He clocked in at 24.47 seconds to out duel Aussie Isaac Cooper by .12 seconds. Third place went to Poland’s Ksawery Masiuk. Ryosuke Irie was fifth, behind Australian Ben Armbruster, in a veteran-laden final.

Women’s 200 freestyle

The first World Cup record of the day went down courtesy of Siobhan Haughey. The Hong Kong swimmer went 1:55.10 to get the win by just more than a second over the field. It downs the record set in 2015 by Katinka Hosszu at 1:55.41.

Second was Erika Fairweather, who had won the 400 freestyle on Friday. She added a silver medal in 1:56.11. That bested Australia’s Lani Pallister in 1:56.50. Netherlands’ Marrit Steenbergen rallied to fourth in 1:57.99.

Men’s 200 IM

South Africa’s Matt Sates took charge on the breaststroke led to pull away and win in 1:58.01. He held off an intriguing charge by Danas Rapsys, not always known as an IMer. As such, the Lithuanian led at the halfway point, slid to fifth at 150 meters, then rallied to second with a 27.42on the final 50. His time was 1:59.69.

Americans finished third and fourth, with Kieran Smith going 2:00.07, a tenth up on Trenton Julian.

Women’s 100 backstroke

Kaylee McKeown added a World Cup record to her voluminous collection of accolades, and in the process put a scare into her world record. The Aussie clocked in at 57.95 seconds, exactly a half-second off her world record set in 2021. She downed the circuit record of 58.34 set by Emily Seebohm back in 2015.

The back was more than two seconds back, no one breaking a minute. Kylie Masse was closest in 1:00.02 for silver. Her fellow Canadian Ingrid Wilm was third in 1:00.41, two-tenths quicker than Maalike de Waard of the Netherlands. Finishers two through six were separated by 1.02 seconds.

Men’s 50 breaststroke

Qin Haiyang added another chapter to his world-beating of late by dominating the 50 breast in 26.29. He lowered the World Cup record by going 26.30 in the morning, which obliterated the 26.74 set in 2015 by Cameron van der Burgh.

Arno Kamminga finished second in 26.97. He edged Adam Peaty by .01 seconds. Fourth went to Nic Fink in 27.06, with Michael Andrew following in fifth.

Women’s 50 butterfly

There seemed little question that a World Cup record would go down in this event, but it was just a matter of who would take it.

Sarah Sjostrom won the showdown with China’s Zhang Yufei. Her time of 25.06 lowered her meet record, from Doha in 2018 at 25.22. Yufei was also under the mark in 25.14.

Torri Huske grabbed third place with a solid swim of 25.85. Fourth went to Angelina Kohler before home fans, in 25.94. Cate Campbell turned in a solid swim for Australia in fifth in 26.21.

Men’s 100 freestyle

Thomas Ceccon went out fast and held on late to win the 100 free in 47.97. He was .58 seconds clear of Australia’s Zac Incerti, who blistered the final 50 to move up from seventh to second in 48.55.

Third went to Dylan Carter in 48.73 with Dutchman Stan Pijnenburg fourth.

Women’s 100 breaststroke

For 50 meters, it looked like Ruta Meilutyte would continue her indominable 2023. But leading at 50 meters, the Lithuanian slid to fifth.

That allowed Eneli Jefimova to surge to the win in 1:06.50. She passed Meilutyte and Letitia Sim of Singapore on the final length, edging the latter .36 seconds. Third went to Poland’s Dominika Sztandera in 1:07.01, .02 up on Tes Schouten. Meilutyte clocked in at 1:07.85.

Men’s 200 butterfly

Matt Sates came back for his second win of the day, and his eighth in-race 50 of the meet may have been his best.

Sates was fourth as the field turned for home, but he unloaded a split of 29.47 on the final 50 meters to climb from fourth to first in a time of 1:55.87. He passed Trenton Julian, who led at 100 and 150 meters, by .66 seconds, the American getting second in 1:56.53.

Japan’s Takumi Terada finished third in 1:57.03, with Richard Marton of Hungary fourth.

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