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 2 Finals Heat Sheet
Marwan El-Kamash narrowly missed out on his first World Cup medal with a fourth-place finish in the men’s 1500-meter freestyle final on Saturday night, but the 28-year-old Egyptian did come away with a personal-best time of 14:35.93 that shattered his own national record by more than 12 seconds.
Men’s 1500 Free – Final
- World Record: 14:06.88, Florian Wellbrock (GER) – 2021
- World Junior Record: 14:27.78, Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA) – 2012
- World Cup Record: 14:15.49, Mykhailo Romanchuk (UKR) – 2016
- Florian Wellbrock (GER) – 14:25.41
- Mykhailo Romanchuk (UKR) – 14:26.69
- Sven Schwarz (GER) – 14:34.87
- Marwan El-Kamash (EGY) – 14:35.93
El-Kamash, a two-time Olympian, lowered his previous standard of 14:48.68 set at the 2021 Short Course World Championships last December. He has owned that record since 2013, when he swam a 15:22.08 at age 19 to snatch the title away from Mohamed Gadallah.
Remarkably, El-Kamash has now brought down the 1500 free national record by more than a minute from Gadallah’s old mark of 15:36.89 from 2008.
El-Kamash also took down a national record in the 400 free on Friday. His time of 3:40.84 was more than two seconds faster than his previous best of 3:43.26 from the 2018 FINA World Championships.
El-Kamash said he didn’t have any expectations for this meet because he had a “normal week of training last week,” but he credited his recent time drops to the “very solid distance group” at Indiana, where he trains with the post-grad crew. Specifically, he noted the addition of surprise Olympic champion Ahmed Hafnaoui of Tunisia as contributing to his success.
After leaving Indiana in 2018, El-Kamash got his green card back in 2019, received support from the Egyptian Swimming Federation, and returned to Bloomington to train with the pro group ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. At one point, he thought his career might be over after a bout with COVID-19 sent him to the hospital for a day, but he’s bounced back in a big way over the past year.
El-Kamash now holds four individual SCM Egyptian records and eight national standards in total including LCM times.
