South African teenager Matt Sates launched the defence of his overall FINA World Cup title in the best possible way by claiming gold in record time in his opening race at the first leg in Berlin on Friday night.
After taking an early lead, but then dropping back slightly in the middle of the race, the 19-year-old powered to victory in the 400m freestyle in a time of 3 minutes 36.30 which set a new South African and African record.
The national record had stood since 2013 while the African record had previously been held by Tunisia’s two-time Olympic champion Ous Mellouli and had stood for 14 years.
Sates was almost a second clear of second-placed Kieran Smith of the USA (3:37.27) with Lithuanian Danas Rapsys third in 3:40.36.
“It’s good to be back,” said a thrilled Sates after the race. “The FINA World Cup last year was awesome. I couldn’t wait to start again.”
Smith added: “It’s going to be a really fun competition. It’s always very challenging to race these guys here. It’s my first World Cup so I started off with a bang.”
Sates was back in the pool later in the evening for the 100m individual medley. He settled for silver in that race but still produced a personal best time of 51.62 with Italian Thomas Ceccon taking the gold in 51.52 while Canadian Javier Acevedo was third in 51.74.
CHAD 2.0
Meanwhile, veteran Chad le Clos made a triumphant return to the top of the podium. After struggling with personal issues and a lack of form for the past couple of years, the 30-year-old is determined to make a comeback ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games. And he used the Berlin World Cup to announce his return in style, claiming victory in the 100m butterfly in a speedy 48.58 seconds, just a 10th of a second off the meet record.
Switzerland’s Noe Ponti was second in 49.38 with Italy’s Matteo Rivolta, who denied Le Clos a fifth straight gold in the same event at last year’s World Short Course Championships, third in 49.75.
Le Clos made his intentions known from the start, leading at each of the turns but, unlike in recent years, there was no fading in the final stretch as he comfortably claimed the much-longed-for win.
“Tonight was about getting back on top. I’ve been taking a lot of losses lately, so this is the start to get the crown back,” said an elated Le Clos afterwards.
“This is Chad 2.0…”
Rivolta was full of praise for his rival.
“It’s exciting, I’m enjoying very much competing with these guys… I can definitely say that Chad is back on top so it’s a great time to be competing with him,” said the Italian.
Racing continues in Berlin tomorrow and Sunday before the action moves to Canada and the USA.