2022 FINA WORLD CUP – BERLIN
- Friday, October 21 – Sunday, October 23, 2022
- Europa-Sportpark, Berlin, Germany
- SCM (25 meters)
- Start Times
- Prelims: 8:30 am local / 2:30 am ET
- Finals: 7:00 pm local / 1:00 pm ET
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheet
- Live Results (Omega)
- Live Stream (FINA YouTube)
- Day 1 Finals Heat Sheet
We reported how Siobhan Haughey produced a new Hong Kong record of 3:56.52 en route to taking the women’s 400m free gold on day 1 of the FINA World Cup Series. However, she wasn’t the only contestant among the field to knock down a national record.
Racing her way to silver behind Haughey was Barbora Seemanova of the Czech Republic, with the 22-year-old stopping the clock in a time of 4:00.15. That edged out Germany’s Isabel Gose who fell just .04 shy of Seemanova, hitting 4:00.19 for bronze.
For Seemanova, however, her time easily overtakes her own previous Czech Republic national standard of 4:02.09. That result was posted by Seemanova while competing in the last season of the International Swimming League.
Seemanova is no stranger to an international podium, as she introduced herself to the world by way of taking the women’s 200m freestyle gold medal at the 2020 European Championships. She followed that up with a 6th place finish in the event at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
The road has been rocky since then for Seemanova, however, as the national record holder was forced to withdraw from both this year’s World Championships and European Championships due to health reasons. Seemanova was first hit with a herniated disc, then Lyme disease, COVID-19 and a fall, all of which caused her to opt out of international racing.
Within the last year, Seemanova also changed coaches, leaving longtime guide Petra Skabova to instead be under the tutelage of Swiss coach Luka Gabrilo, the man who also has Canadian-turned-Phillipino swimmer Kayla Sanchez on his squad.
Seemanova raced this past weekend in Pilsen. Among her races, the versatile ace earned gold with a long course 50m butterfly time of 26.23.