Event Wrap of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup - Berlin
The first of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cups was held in Berlin, Germany, over the weekend. An army of four swimmers from Swim Dunedin and Neptune and one from Heretaunga Sundevils took part in the competition, with the World Cups taking place over three consecutive weekends. The NZ swimmers taking part are Erika Fairweather, Caitlin Deans, Zac Reid, Kane Follows and Emma Godwin, who have decided to travel to Europe to get quality long course race experience just under a year out from the Paris Olympic Games.
Day one of competition was one for the record books for Erika Fairweather, winning gold in the Women's 400m Freestyle in a time of 4:01.09 and breaking the eight-year world cup record of 4:04.26 set by Lauren Boyle at the Dubai stop in November 2015.
Erika Fairweather was pleased with her first race of the World Cup.
"The plan was to get here and just do some solid racing but it was awesome to take out that record on my first swim. Hopefully over the next 2 stops I can get even quicker." - Fairweather
Finals continued on night one with Kane Follows finishing in an agonising 4th in the Men's 200m Backstroke Final, with 2nd, 3rd, and 4th all finishing within 0.1 seconds of each other. In the Men's 400m Freestyle, Zac Reid had a strong swim in the final to finish in 6th. Emma Godwin finished 8th equal in the heats of the Women's 50m Backstroke and unfortunately finished 2nd in the swim off for the final. Caitlin Deans also just missed the final in 9th place in the Women's 400m Freestyle.
The second night of racing saw Fairweather continue her form and win silver in the Women's 200m Freestyle, less than a second shy of her NZ Record. Godwin was our other NZ finalist finishing in 8th in the Women's 100m Backstroke. Follows, Deans, and Reid all swam solid times in the heats but unfortunately did not proceed on to the finals in the 50m Backstroke, 200m Freestyle, and 100m Freestyle respectively.
The final night of racing once again saw Fairweather on the podium in the Women's 800m Freestyle winning the silver again. Deans swam in the morning heats of the 800m but manage to crack the top 8 by finishing 8th. Godwin finished her meet with a 5th place finish in the Women's 200m Backstroke final in her fastest swim for the year. Follows was the final New Zealander for the night finishing in 6th in a fast Men's 100m Backstroke final.
At the completion of the meet, Fairweather had the 5th most female points accumulated from the first World Cup. Congratulations Erika!
All five kiwis will continue on with their training in Europe before the next World Cup leg in Athens, Greece, on October 13th - 15th. We wish the best of luck to our swimmers as they prepare for Greece!
