Matthew Sates has come out of the World Cup swimming series with a great haul of 11 medals and third place overall in the men’s individual rankings.
The Pietermaritzburg star won three gold medals and one silver in the final leg of the lucrative series in the Hungarian capital of Budapest at the weekend.
In the process, the 20-year-old athlete secured the “triple crown” in both the 200 m butterfly and 200 m medley, meaning he was unbeaten in those races in all three legs of the Europe-based circuit.
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This helped Sates secure the bronze in the overall men’s rankings.
He finished behind Hayang Quin of China and Thomas Ceccon of Italy overall and pocketed prize money and bonuses, while the overall women’s crown unsurprisingly went to Kaylee McKeown of Australia.
Said Sates:
I am so happy to be finished with World Cup racing this season. Yeah! I’m in the top three right now. Thanks to World Aquatics for putting on such a great event. Thanks to those in the audience for supporting us.
“I am really excited to race on the way to our Olympic trials. I think races like this where it’s a bit of fun with the people around me are valuable.
“But it reminds me of the standard that I have to live up to. I have learned how I think I want to approach my training going forward.”
The Budapest action saw Sates win the 200 m medley in one minute and 57,72 seconds, the 200 m butterfly in 1:55,25 and the 400 m medley in 4:15,68.
He finished second to Noe Ponti of Switzerland in the 100 m butterfly, clocking 51,66 sec to Ponti’s 51,38 sec.
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Before Hungary, the former St Charles College pupil picked up three golds and one silver in Athens, Greece, the previous weekend, and two golds and one silver in the opening leg of the series in Berlin, Germany, the week before.
Sates said he may race again in December in a few different events.
I am really excited to swim over the next eight to 10 months heading into the summer and hopefully Paris.