SWIMMING: Kamminga and Campbell win second World Cup clusters; Dressel MVP in ISL II

The big winner in the FINA World Cup/Cluster 2: Dutch Breaststroke star Arno Kamminga

The second phase of the 2019 FINA World Cup finished on Sunday in Berlin (GER), with new winners in the cluster rankings in Arno Kamminga and Cate Campbell.

The favorites coming into the meet were perennial favorites Vladimir Morozov (RUS) and Katinka Hosszu (HUN). Both won three events in Berlin: Morozov in the 50-100 Frees and the 50 m Back, and Hosszu in the 200 m Fly and both Medleys.

But as is so often the case in the FINA World Cup, the bonus points for the best performances of the meet – 24-18-12 – according to the FINA points table, was decisive.

Dutch Breaststroke specialist Kamminga won all three events last week in Budapest and won the 100 and 200 m Breast events in Berlin. But even though he was upset by Serb Caba Siladi in the 50 m sprint in Berlin, he had the no. 1 performance (200 m Breast in 2:09.03) over Morozov and won the cluster with 117 points to 108 for Morozov.

Hosszu had 48 points in Budapest to 42 for Campbell, and although Campbell had just one win – in the 100 m Free – and a second (50 m Fly) and a third (50 m Fly), that 100 m Free win in 52.51 was the top performance of the meet and her total of 93 surpassed Hosszu (84), whose best performance did not earn any bonuses.

However, neither Morozov or Hosszu went away empty-handed as the cluster bonus package pays $50,000-35,000-30,000-20,000-10,000-5,000-4000-3,000 for the top eight. The third cluster starts on 1 November in Kazan (RUS). Highlights:

FINA Swimming World Cup
Berlin (GER) ~ 11-13 October 2019
(Full results here)

Men

50 m Free: Vladimir Morozov (RUS), 21.55. 100 m Free: Morozov (RUS), 48.02 (3. Michael Andrew (USA), 22.03). 200 m Free: Danas Rapsys (LTU), 1:45.82. 400 m Free: Rapsys (LTU), 3:47.65. 1,500 m Free: Florian Wellbrock (GER), 15:10.82.

50 m Back: Morozov (RUS), 24.75 (2. Andrew (USA), 24.97). 100 m Back: Ryosuke Irie (JPN), 53.26 (3. Andrew (USA), 54.13). 200 m Back: Irie (JPN), 1:56.46.

50 m Breast: Caba Siladi (SRB), 27.18 (2. Arno Kamminga (NED), 27.21). 100 m Breast: Kamminga (NED), 59.15. 200 m Breast: Kamminga (NED), 2:09.03.

50 m Fly: Michael Andrew (USA), 23.22. 100 m Fly: 1. Kristof Milak (HUN), 51.78. 200 m Fly: Milak (HUN), 1:55.47.

200 m Medley: Jeremy Desplanches (SUI), 1:58.32 (2. Rapsys (LTU), 1:59.47). 400 m Medley: Yuki Ikari (JPN), 4:13.87.

Women

50 m Free: Michelle Coleman (SWE), 24.26 (3. Cate Campbell (AUS), 24.87). 100 m Free: C. Campbell (AUS), 52.51. 200 m Free: Barbora Seemanova (CZE), 1:58.78. 400 m Free: Seemanova (CZE), 4:10.06. 800 m Free: Maddy Gough (AUS), 8:34.98.

50 m Back: Kira Toussaint (FRA), 27.49. 100 m Back: Toussaint (FRA), 59.46. (3. Hosszu (HUN), 1:00.65). 200 m Back: Taylor Ruck (CAN), 2:08.21.

50 m Breast: Anna Elendt (GER), 31.27). 100 m Breast: Jessica Vall Montero (ESP), 1:07.76. 200 m Breast: Vall Montero (ESP), 2:27.14.

50 m Fly: Ranomi Kromowidjojo (NED), 25.67 (2. C. Campbell (AUS), 26.12). 100 m Fly: Angelina Kohler (GER), 58.83. 200 m Fly: Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 2:09.13.

200 m Medley: Hosszu (HUN), 2:10.38. 400 m Medley: Hosszu (HUN), 4:38.15.

Mixed

4×100 m Free: 1. Sweden (Seeliger, Persson, Coleman, Eriksson), 3:30.49. 4×100 m Medley: Japan (Irie, Teramura, Omoto, Matsumoto), 3:50.99.

The second International Swimming League meet was held in Naples (ITA) in front of a much better crowd, and showcased a remarkable performance by American superstar Caeleb Dressel.

He swam in eight events on the weekend:

Saturday:
● 100 m Fly: 2nd, 49.36
● 50 m Free: 1st, 20.64
● 4×100 m Medley: Cali Condors third
● 4×100 m Free: Cali Condors second

Sunday:
● 100 m Free: 1st, 45.37
● 50 m Fly: 1st, 22.34
● Mixed 4×100 m Free: Cali Condors second
● 50 m Free Skins: 1st (21.05 quarters, 21.31 semis, 21.33 final) over France’s Florent Manaudou in the final

Four individual wins in five races – including three rounds in the Skins – and three relays is a heavy workload, but he was the top point-scorer in the meet and won the Most Valuable Player award (45.0 points); Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom was once again the top scorer for the women (43.0). Her schedule:

Saturday: 100 m Fly (2nd: 56.63), 50 m Free (23.63) + 4×100 m Free Relay.
Sunday: 100 m Free (51.66), 50 m Fly (24.98) and 50 m Free Skins.

Also impressive once again was Breaststroke star Lilly King (USA) for the Cali Condors, who won all three Breast events for the second week in a row.

Energy Standard (France) won the team scoring for the second straight meet, with 493.0 points to 490.5 for the Cali Condors (San Francisco). D.C. Trident (Washington, D.C.) was third with 322.0 and the home team, the Aqua Centurions (Italy) were fourth at 321.5.