Scoring Leaders, Likely Winners After Day 2 of the Berlin Swimming World Cup

2023 WORLD AQUATICS SWIMMING WORLD CUP – BERLIN

• October 6-8, 2023
• Berlin, Germany
• LCM (50 meters)
• Meet Central
• Prize Money
• Full Entry List
• Live Results
• Day 1 Live Recap | Day 2 Live Recap | Day 3 Prelims Recap

$224,000 in prize money is on the line on the final day of the 2023 Swimming World Cup in Berlin

The caveat to the above is that not every swimmer has 3 scoring events so far.

Women’s Landscape

The leader on the women’s side is American Torrie Huske with 39.5 points, including bronze medals in the 50 free and 50 fly, and a 7th place finish in the 200 free.

The caveat, of course, is that the two swimmers directly behind her, Kaylee McKeown of Australia and Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden, each have just two swims on their resume, and each have two wins.

Based on the World Aquatics scoring system for these meets, which awards 10 points for a win and a power points bonus equivalent to 1% of a swim’s power point score (rounded down to the nearest tenth), that means McKeown and Sjostrom are the two real contenders for this title.

McKeown has two swims on Sunday evening to improve her standing. She finished 1st in heats of the 200 IM in 2:14.61 and 5th in the heats of the 200 back in 2:14.48. Based on her earlier swims, she’s likely to be faster in both in finals and is favored to win both races.

Sjostrom, meanwhile, has just the 100 free – and a loaded field of competition there to battle. She qualified 4th in 54.38 behind World Cup machine Siobhan Haughey (53.61), Cate Campbell (53.72), and Bronte Campbell (53.86).

The pressure is on Sjostrom. She has to win the 100 free, and do it in a ripper of a time, to win the session and the $12,000 prize that goes with it. If Sjostrom really caught a wave and went 52.00, winning the race, that would be worth 19.8 points. Even in that best-case scenario for her, McKeown would need just a 2:06.37, a more realistic result based on swimming so far, in the 200 back to secure the win.

While it’s a longshot, there’s still a motivation for Sjostrom to push for her top score with the overall series scoring still on the line.

Women’s Scoring

Men’s Landscape

The top 3 in the men’s standings have all swum 3 races, while Qin Haiyang and Thomas Ceccon, the lead contenders, are on only 2 races each.

Qin has the 200 breaststroke on Sunday, where he’s a big favorite, and Ceccon has the 100 backstroke, where he’s the World Record holder.

Based on Qin’s swims so far at this meet, which includes tying his Asian Record in the 100 breaststroke, it’s going to be very difficult for the Italian Ceccon to overcome that full-point deficit.

For example, a 52.5 in the 100 back plus a win would get Ceccon 19.4 points. For Qin to hold on for the win, he’d need only a 2:12.96 in the 200 breast – a time that based on recent results, he could probably do in a drag suit.

The one leader among the guys with three swims in their ledger so far is American Michael Andrew. His list of results currently has a win in the 50 back (19.0 points), 100 fly (18.7 points), and a silver in the 50 free (16.5  points).

He qualified 2nd in the 50 fly in 23.27, .02 seconds behind Australian Isaac Cooper. Cooper’s swim was a best time, whereas Andrew has been much faster, so the win there is easily within the realm of reason.

If he pops off a 22.9, for example, which he’s done with some regularity, that would be worth 19.1 points (assuming a win). That improves his scoring to 56.8 points.

That wouldn’t be enough to catch Qin, who will probably land with around 59 points, but could be enough to hold off Ceccon for 2nd place if Ceccon doesn’t win the 100 back

Men’s Scoring