2021 FINA WORLD CUP – BERLIN
- October 1-3, 2021
- Europasportpark Pool (SSE), Berlin, Germany
- Short course meters (25m)
- 2021 FINA World Cup Schedule
- SwimSwam Preview
- Day 1 Recap
- Entries/Results
Swimming in Berlin, Germany at the 2021 FINA World Cup, South Africa’s Matt Sates took out Daiya Seto‘s 1:52.48 world junior record in the 200 IM with an event-winning time of 1:51.45. Sates’ swim was more than a second faster than Seto’s former WJR which he set almost a decade ago in November 2012.
Sates was out almost a second faster than Seto on the first 50 alone and was more than a second ahead of Seto’s pace by the 100m mark. Despite a quicker breaststroke split from Seto, Sates closed with a 26.89 on the freestyle to knock down the mark.
Split Comparison
| Matt Sates (2021) | Daiya Seto (2012) | |
| Butterfly | 23.90 | 24.88 |
| Backstroke | 28.45 (52.35) | 28.51 (53.39) |
| Breaststroke | 32.21 (1:24.56) | 31.78 (1:25.17) |
| Freestyle | 26.89 (1:51.45) | 27.31 (1:52.48) |
For further context on Sates’ swim, it would make him the 3rd fastest man in ISL thus far in season 3, trailing only Daiya Seto‘s 1:51.12 and Caeleb Dressel‘s 1:51.14. Additionally, the swim makes him the 9th fastest man in the history of the event.
All-Time Men’s SCM 200 IM Performers
- Ryan Lochte – 1:49.63 (2012)
- Kosuke Hagino – 1:50.47 (2014)
- Daiya Seto – 1:50.76 (2019)
- Andreas Vazaios – 1:50.85 (2019)
- Shun Wang – 1:51.01 (2018)
- Caeleb Dressel – 1:51.14 (2021)
- Laszlo Cseh – 1:51.36 (2015)
- Matt Sates – 1:51.45 (2021)
- Andrew Seliskar – 1:51.53 (2020)
- Darian Townsend – 1:51.55 (2009)
This swim from Sates is a massive improvement upon the 1:55.43 he swam just a few weeks ago at the short course South African National Championships. At that meet, Sates claimed a total of 10 individual titles.
Sates has been among those leading the surge of young swimmers rising in the ranks in South Africa and with this swim has broken his first-ever national record. The 1:51.45 world junior record by Sates was 0.10 second faster than Darian Townsend’s 2009 South African record of 1:51.55. Townsend actually set that former record at the Berlin stop of the 2009 FINA World Cup Series; the exact meet at which Sates would eventually lower the mark.
Sates also recently raced at his first Olympic Games for South Africa, swimming both the 100 butterfly and 200 IM in Tokyo. He finished 32nd overall in the 100 butterfly with a 52.34 in the prelims but managed to advance to semi-finals in the 200 IM with a 1:58.08 where before ending up 14th overall in a 1:58.75.
After Sates wraps up his 2021 season, he will be heading to the United States in order to commence his NCAA career at the University of Georgia.
Reading a bit about Matt, it appears he is joining a coach at Georgia who is also from his home club . That will go z long way to help his move .
Nice to see a new SA talent .
True, but he would be much better off at Stanford.
https://swimswam.com/could-matt-sates-be-the-next-michael-phelps/
Crickets from the peanut gallery that thought SwimSwam was hyping this guy up too much just a few days ago…👀👀
The long course success still isn’t there l. He will be incredibly successful regardless but I would like to see some long course prowess before I can say meets expectations.
To all of you downvoting this, swim swam compared him to MP and I am sorry, but based on that, he hasn’t lived up to expectations
Pretty sure his time at Georgia will take care of that. But you’re right, he could be another David Nolan — unreal in SC out of high school in the 200 IM, just could never do it in LCM.
Well he’s already been 1:57.6 in the 200 IM – which is 1.5 seconds better than David Nolan ever was in the LCM 200 IM.
Well, he should be. Nolan peaked nearly 10 years ago.
The real story is why hasn’t he already been poached away from Georgia.
Lol. The crux of that article is making comparisons to an 18-&-under Phelps. That’s valid and relevant, unless you’re part of the Phelps Hive & can’t handle anyone else being mentioned in the same breath.
His biggest “flaw” is that he can swim most anything so where do you use him….nice problem to have
A problem we all wish we had