South Africans made the headlines on Day 2 in Berlin: Matt Sates set a new junior WR in the men’s 200m IM, while Chad le Clos won the 200m fly to claim his 146th World Cup win and extended the gap between himself and the rest of the field in the men’s all-time ranks. Aussies enjoyed a fine day with three titles, including another one for Kylie Chalmers who won the 100m free – he did it again after nine years. In terms of time-gap, Hungary’s Zsuzsanna Jakabos had an even more remarkable feat as she managed to snatch victories in the 400m IM ten years apart.
Though Katinka Hosszu, the most dominant swimmer in the World Cup history with 309 gold medals, is away so far, Hungary’s success story continued in the women’s 400m IM. For eight years (2012-19) Hosszu was 56 for 60 in this event and triumphed in the last 18 – now compatriot Zsuzsanna Jakabos earned a convincing win in the first final of the second day. Her feat is even more remarkable if we note that Jakabos had already been part of the show at the beginning of the last decade and she in fact she won the long IM once in Stockholm in 2011. Claiming victories in this gruelling event ten years apart is a great feat anyway.
The other medley final of the session also brought an eye-catching result: upcoming South African talent Matt Sates bettered the junior World Record set by Japan’s Daiya Seto back in 2012. Sates shaved off a full second (1:51.45) to claim his second gold here, after his victory in the 100m IM on the opening day.
The specialists also went on adding the next title on offer in their respective strokes: Dutchman Arno Kamminga came first in the 50m breast (after the 100m) and German veteran Christian Diener did the same in the back, won the dash to pair it with the 200m title from Day 1.
And last but not least, Aussie Kylie Chalmers hit the wall first in the 100m (claimed the 50m on Friday), and his 45.73 is a great effort in anybody’s language (bonus: he got rid of his horrifying moustache for today). By the way, the 2016 Olympic champion and the Tokyo 2020 silver medallist won this event in the Japanese capital at the 2016 World Cup leg, then he swam 46.12 and that had been a junior WR back then. (In brackets, this event also belonged to Vlad Morozov in the past four years when the Russian went 24/29, but he did not line up for the start, unlike in the 50m yesterday).
On the contrary, in the women’s races the Friday victors didn’t have much success this time. The 100m back title went to Lousie Hansson of Sweden – interestingly, this time it was she kept the Canadians Margaret MacNeil and Kylie Masse at bay, what Kira Toussaint had done 24 hours earlier in the 50m – the Dutch came 4th here.
Aussie Madison Wilson won the 200m free with ease, 400m champion Isabele Gose finished third. Another win came from Down Under in the 50m fly where Holly Barratt stunned fellow Aussie Emma McKeon and MacNeil – the Canadian was the 100m fly gold medallist in Tokyo and McKeon had the bronze and completed the sprinting double at the Olympics. Barratt, 34, however, was way faster than them, she clocked 24.77, the lonely sub-25sec effort of the evening.
1st win few weeks after #Covid_19 recovery for Madison Wilson:
— FINA (@fina1908) October 2, 2021
"It was one of the hardest thing I've ever had to do. With everything I've learned over the last few weeks, my mind is incredibly strong" 🙌 #swimming pic.twitter.com/2yaQgbu5Ym
The 100m breast saw Israeli Anastasia Gorbenko coming home the fastest, it’s her second gold (had clinched the 100m IM on Day 1) – it was a bit surprising as this time she stunned Olympic champion Lydia Jacoby and junior European champion Eneli Jefimova. A day earlier Czech Krystina Horska did that trick – today she arrived 6th to the wall.
To save some of the Olympic medallists’ pride, home hero Florian Wellbrock pulled off a fine win in the men’s 1500m free. The German, bronze medallist over this distance in Tokyo and champion in the marathon, deserves all credits since just a week ago he had won a 10km race in the LEN Open Water Cup in Barcelona then he could switch back to pool swimming in time to make it to the top at the home leg of the World Cup.
In the last individual final, it was once more the Tom Shields v Chad le Clos Show – in the 100m fly the veteran American hit the wall first, now it was Chad’s turn in the 200m. The four-time overall winner South African opted for an unusual tactics – usually he rushes in front and tries to keep his advantage till the end, now he waited till the last 50m to launch a fierce finish and passed Shields over the last leg to beat him by 0.19sec. It was Le Clos’ 146th win in the World Cup history – so he further expanded his lead in the all-time ranks ahead of Morozov who is second with 122.
The session-closing mixed 4x50m free relay was great fun, the US sailed away with the win, ahead of Germany and Hungary.
One more day of action is coming in Berlin, finals are from 18.00 CET tomorrow.