Van der Burgh (RSA) and Guehrer (AUS) overall winners of the World Cup

Moreover, Van der Burgh was also one of most awarded and fast swimmers of the 2008 FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup, establishing three World Records and winning 12 medals. Coming to the last leg of the circuit in Berlin, Van der Burgh was already leading the overall ranking, and knew that the task of his main opponent (Robert Hurley, AUS) was hard: the Australian swimmer had to be the best performer in the German capital, had to beat two World Records and had to expect Van der Burgh to be the seventh or worse performer in Berlin. At the end of the two-day meet, the South African was third (with his performance in the 50m breaststroke – 26.05), while Hurley was only 10th.

Van der Burgh (aged 20) closed the year with an important victory, after having won two medals (silver in the 100m breaststroke and bronze in the 50m breaststroke) at the 2008 FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) in Manchester (GBR). At the Olympic Games, the South African was not so successful, finishing 10th in the 100m breaststroke and reaching the final (seventh) with his teammates of the 4x100m medley relay. In 2007, at the FINA World Championships in Melbourne (AUS), he was third in the 50m breaststroke.

Peter Marshall (USA), third before Berlin, was the second best performer (40 points) in the German capital, and still got a bonus (20 points) for his WR in the 100m backstroke. He finished then in the second overall position, with 133 points and US$50,000 in prize money. Randall Bal (USA), 2007 winner and fifth before the last meet, also benefited from his WR bonus (in the 50m backstroke) and managed to climb to the third overall place, with 129 points (prize money of US$30,000).

Outside of the top-3, Tunisian Oussama Mellouli was the most medalled swimmer of the Series, with a total of 35 awards (including 28 victories!). The 1500m Olympic champion in Beijing (CHN) participated in all the seven meets of the circuit and demonstrated that even after a hard Olympic year a presence in the World Cup can be quite successful.

In the women’s ranking, Marieke Gueher (AUS) was also rewarded for her regularity (she attended all the seven meets of the series) and got the first place with 199 points. Before Berlin, she was closely followed by Therese Alshammar (SWE), who needed to be the best performer with a World Record in this last meet to beat Guehrer. In the 50m free of Day 1 (the two contenders race the 50m free and 50m butterfly), no outstanding performance from either swimmer came out of the pool, so the attention was focused in the 50m butterfly, the event in which Alshammar had beaten a new World Record (25.31) in Stockholm. But the last race of the meet arrived and it was the Australian who established a new World Record in 24.99 (best women’s performance in Berlin), ending Alshammar’s hopes for the overall victory (she finished second, with 137 points).

Alshammar won the series in 2007 and 2005/2006, while her compatriot Anna-Karin Kammerling was first in 2004/2005 and second in 2005/2006. The third placed swimmer of the overall classification was the South African Katheryn Meaklim, with 78 points.

OVERALL RANKING OF THE 2008 FINA/ARENA SWIMMING WORLD CUP
Men
1. Cameron van der Burgh (RSA) – 192 points – US$100,000
2. Peter Marshall (USA) – 133 points – US$50,000
3. Randall Bal (USA) – 129 points – US$30,000

Women
1. Marieke Guehrer (AUS) – 199 points – US$100,000
2. Therese Alshammar (SWE) – 137 points – US$50,000
3. Katheryn Meaklim (RSA) – 78 points – US$30,000

A total of 12 World Records were established in this edition of the World Cup, the best outcome since the 2001/2002 edition – where a maximum number of 22 WR were set. In the last five editions, the distribution of World Records was as follows:
2002/2003 – 7 WR
2003/2004 – 4 WR
2004/2005 – 5 WR
2005/2006 – 2 WR
2007 – 5 WR

RECORDS AT THE FINA/ARENA SWIMMING WORLD CUP 2008

World Records (12)
-    Paul Biedermann (GER) – Men’s 200m free in 1:40.83 (Berlin)
-    Robert Hurley (AUS) – Men’s 50m backstroke in 23.24 (Sydney)
-    Peter Marshall (USA) – Men’s 50m backstroke in 23.05 (Stockholm)
-    Randall Bal (USA) – Men’s 50m backstroke in 22.87 (Berlin)
-    Peter Marshall (USA) – Men’s 100m backstroke in 49.94 (Stockholm)
-    Peter Marshall (USA) – Men’s 100m backstroke in 49.63 (Berlin)
-    Cameron van der Burgh (RSA) – Men’s 50m breaststroke in 26.08 (Moscow)
-    Cameron van der Burgh (RSA) – Men’s 50m breaststroke in 25.94 (Stockholm)
-    Cameron van der Burgh (RSA) – Men’s 100m breaststroke in 56.88 (Moscow)
-    Matt Jaukovic (AUS) – Men’s 50m butterfly in 22.50 (Sydney)
-    Therese Alshammar (SWE) – Women’s 50m butterfly in 25.31 (Stockholm)
-    Marieke Guehrer (AUS) – Women’s 50m butterfly in 24.99 (Berlin)

World Cup Records (7)
-    Robert Hurley (AUS) – Men’s 100m backstroke in 50.28 (Singapore)
-    Evgeny Korotyshkin (RUS) – Men’s 100m butterfly in 49.74 (Berlin)
-    Oussama Mellouli (TUN) – Men’s 200m individual medley in 1:52.41 (Berlin)
-    Coralie Balmy (FRA) – Women’s 400m free in 3:56.24 (Berlin)
-    Valentina Artemyeva (RUS) – Women’s 50m breaststroke in 29.86 (Moscow)
-    Li Tao (SIN) – Women’s 100m butterfly in 56.28 (Berlin)
-    Katheryn Meaklim (RSA) – Women’s 400m individual Medley in 4:27.21 (Stockholm)

In terms of medals, the top-3 swimmers of the 2008 World Cup were:
Men
1.    Oussama Mellouli (TUN) – 28G + 5S + 2B – Total: 35
2.    Cameron van der Burgh (RSA) – 10G + 2B – Total: 12
3.    Christian Sprenger (AUS) – 9G + 6S + 4B – Total: 19

Women
1.    Katheryn Meaklim (RSA) – 18G + 6S + 2B – Total: 26
2.    Marieke Guehrer (AUS) – 12G + 10S + 1B – Total: 23
3.    Melissa Ingram (NZL) – 9G + 6S + 1B – Total: 16

Great finale in Berlin
In Berlin, the second day of the last meet of the series (a competition attended by FINA President Mustapha Larfaoui) was highlighted by the World Record of local star Paul Biedermann in the men’s 200m free. The German swimmer clocked 1:40.83 and erased the previous best world mark (1:41.10) obtained by Australian legend Ian Thorpe in 2000 in the same pool. Biedermann was fifth at this year’s Olympic Games (also in the 200m free) and had been seventh in this distance at the 2007 FINA World Championships in Melbourne. Oussama Mellouli (TUN) and Darian Townsend (RSA), the dominators of the 200m free in this World Cup, were respectively second (1:42.88) and third (1:43.19).

The 11th World Record of this World Cup was established by the 2007 winner Randall Bal (USA) in the men’s 50m backstroke, in a time of 22.87 (he became the first swimmer to perform under the 23 seconds in this event). The previous WR holder, his compatriot Peter Marshall (23.05 in Stockholm, the previous leg of the circuit) was second in 22.90 (under the former best world mark), while the bronze went to Robert Hurley (AUS, 23.50), who also set a WR in this event at this World Cup (in Sydney, he won in 23.24).

In the women’s 50m butterfly, Guehrer appeared really motivated to be the first of the overall ranking, and finished her brilliant participation in the 2008 World Cup with a new World Record in the event – 24.99, faster than the previous world best mark set by Alshammar in Stockholm (25.31).

Three World Cup records were also set in this last day of competition: in the men’s 100m butterfly, Evgeny Korotyshkin (RUS) was first in 49.74 (faster than the 50.10 established by German Thomas Rupprath in 2002); in the men’s 200m individual medley, Oussama Mellouli (TUN) got his 28th gold (and 35th medal) of the series with a winning time of 1:52.41 (the previous World Cup record was obtained by Thiago Pereira, of Brazil, in 2007, with a time of 1:53.14); in the women’s 400m free, Coralie Balmy (FRA) clocked the second best time ever in the event, touching first in 3:56.24 – Lindsay Benko (USA) was the former owner of this World Cup record (3:59.53) since 2003, while Laure Manaudou, also from France, has set the World Record in 3:56.09 in December 2006.

Katheryn Meaklim (RSA) got her 25th medal of the series in the women’s 400m individual medley (fifth win in this event) in a time of 4:29.41 – her best time in the distance was the winning result in Stockholm, 4:27.21 (new World Cup record). The award number 26 came with the bronze in the 200m breaststroke (a race won by Australian Sarah Katsoulis in 2:23.09). With these two medals, the South African consolidated her place as the most awarded swimmer of this World Cup (18 gold, six silver and two bronze).