2020 CORONA CUP
- Friday, July 3rd & Saturday, July 4th
- Podolí, Prague, Czech Republic
- 50m (LCM)
- Start Lists
- Results
Two members of the Czech team from the 2019 World Championships were the headliners at the pithily named Corona Cup. Simona Kubova and Tomas Franta both raced in Prague among around 200 swimmers who participated in the meet.
A handful of other big names were scheduled to participate, but several, including Jan Micka and Barbora Seemanova, dropped out.
The unique format of the event had each swimmer compete in 6 races. The swimmers with the highest aggregate FINA points across 6 races won the meet.
Kubova won the women’s battle on 3 victories in 6 races:
- 100 back – 1:01.41 (1st)
- 50 breast – 34.77
- 100 fly – 1:01.40
- 50 free – 26.81 (1st)
- 100 breast – 1:13.47
- 50 back – 28.75 (1st)
Kubova’s specialty is the backstroke races, where she was the 2013 European Champion in the 50 back in short course. Her 1:01.40 to win the 100 back scored 842 FINA points, which was the highest-scoring swim of the meet.
The winner of the men’s meet was Tomas Franta, holder of 4 Czech Records, who won 2 races at the meet. That helped counterbalance his 5th and 6th events, the breaststrokes, where he ranked in the 30s in the final standings.
- 100 back – 56.78 (1st)
- 50 breast – 32.32
- 100 fly – 56.24
- 50 free – 23.56
- 100 breast – 1:10.91
- 50 back – 26.44 (1st)
Franta was challenged in the backstroke races by 2019 European Junior Championships medalist Jan Cejka, who won bronze in the 100 back and gold in the 200 back at last year’s European Junior meet.
This weekend in Prague, he finished 2nd in both the 50 back (26.51) and 100 back (58.16).
Czech swimmers, by-and-large, have been back in the water for about 3 weeks. After the meet, Franta said that, given that short timeline, he was pleasantly surprised with the results of his 100 back. “I went into it with a clear head and more-or-less everything worked out for me. It was pleasant and I managed it well.”
Also at the meet, the president of the Czech Swimming Association Petry Ryska presented awards to 8 swimmers and coaches who participated in the fight against coronavirus in medical facilities.
The country has recorded officially 12,469 coronavirus cases and 348 deaths caused by COVID-19. By early May, the country had successfully fought back its early peak of new cases, though over the last week cases in the country have been on the rise. The country of 10.7 million citizens has been averaging just over 100 new cases each day over the last week.
Actually swimmers swam 9 events, 100 free, 50 fly and 200 medley are missing (mentioned events were on saturday, missing on sunday). 50 and 100 meters each stroke + 200 medley for everybody.