Matthew Sates Destroys 200 IM World Junior Record at FINA World Cup
South Africa’s Matthew Sates turned in a time of 1:51.45 in the men’s 200 individual medley at the FINA World Cup stop in Berlin Saturday. The time is a national record and a world junior record for the 18-year-old.
Sates’ time cut more than a second off the world junior record set by Daiya Seto in 2012 at 1:52.48. It also undercut by a tenth of a second that 12-year-old South African record of Darian Townsend from 2009. Sates’ time is the eighth-fastest in history.
Matthew Sates won the race by more than 2.5 seconds, ahead of Lithuania’s Danas Rapsys on Day 2 of the three-day meet, the first stop of four this season in the FINA World Cup. Sates won the 100 IM on Friday to go with second in the 400 free.
Madi Wilson continued her recovery from COVID-19, the Australian who has been excellent in ISL this season going 1:54.00 to claim the 200 free. She led from the 100 wall on to best Katja Fain of Slovenia by .38 seconds.
Wilson’s countrywoman Holly Barratt buzzed within .08 of an Aussie record in the 50 fly, clocking in at 24.77 seconds. The mark set by Marieke Guehrer in 2009 (24.69) barely survived. Emma McKeon made it an Aussie 1-2 in 25.10. Maggie MacNeil was third in 25.13, downing the Canadian record set in 2018 by Haley Black (25.43). It’s her second Canadian record in as many days.
Fifth in the 50 fly was Louise Hansson, who had earlier won the 100 back in another star-studded field. The Swedish sprinter got to the wall first in 56.03, adding another national record to the 50 back mark she nabbed on Friday. MacNeil was second in 56.16, just ahead of fellow Canadian Kylie Masse in 56.31. Kira Toussaint was fourth, followed by Maaike de Waard (who was fourth in the 50 fly) and world-record holder Minna Atherton in sixth.
On the men’s side, the Germans delighted the home crowd. Florian Wellbrock, the Tokyo gold medalist from the 10k, surged ahead after 1,300 meters to win the 1,500 free in 14:35.23, outlasting Russia’s Kirill Martynychev. Germans were third and fourth via Sven Schwarz and Oliver Klemet.
Christian Diener led a German 1-2 in the 50 back with a time of 23.29, ahead of countryman Ole Braunschwwig. American Quintin McCarty was third.
Arno Kamminga and Kyle Chalmers each picked up their second wins of the meet. Kamminga doubled up on breaststroke gold in the 50 with a time of 26.00 that narrowly outtouched Germany’s Fabian Schwingenschlogl. Peter Stevens of Slovenia was third.
Chalmers turned in a 45.73 to rout the field in the 100 free, nearly three-quarters of a second quicker than Jesse Puts, one of three Dutch swimmers in the final. Blake Pieroni came home third.
In the men’s 200 fly, Chad le Clos surged on the final 50 to take the win in 1:50.32, nudging Tom Shields to second place by .19 seconds. Hubert Kos of Hungary was third.
Anastasia Gorbenko was close to adding two more wins to her account. She won the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.44, heaping that Israeli record onto her massive pile of them. Estonian teen Eneli Jefimova was second in 1:04.95 with Lydia Jacoby and Emma Weber of the U.S. third and fourth. Gorbenko couldn’t quite keep pace in the 400 IM earlier in the day, finishing second in 4:34.74. First went to Hungary’s Zsuzsanna Jakabos in 4:31.15. Kristyna Horska of the Czech Republic was third.