Ingram wins World Cup again, breaks record

New Zealand swimmer Melissa Ingram has set a national record on the way to another win in the final in the FINA World Cup series in Berlin today.

The 23 year old Ingram won the 200m backstroke on the first night of finals in Berlin after qualifying second fastest.

Ingram dominated the final, clocking 2:04.31 to break her own New Zealand record she set at last year’s World Short Course Championships by nearly half a second.

She was in control throughout with a superbly judged race, following an initial sub-30 second opening 50m with three further 50m in the mid 31 second range, winning by a second from Japan’s Tomoyo Fukuda with Denmark’s Elspa Morkore third.

It was Ingram’s ninth win in the World Cup circuit along with five second placings and she completed a clear sweep of all six finals in the 200m backstroke that she has competed in this summer in Durban, Sydney, Singapore, Moscow, Stockholm and Berlin.

Ingram has broken the New Zealand record in all three events she has competed in the series – 200m backstroke, 200m and 400m freestyle.

Chasing the magical 1000 FINA point barrier, Ingram earned 984 points for her performance.

She has the 400m freestyle on the final day of the circuit tomorrow.

Result, 200m backstroke final, FINA World Cup, Berlin:
200m backstroke: Melissa Ingram (NZL) 2:04.31, 1 (NZ Record); Tomoyo Fukuda (JPN) 2:05.29, 2; Elspa Morkore (DEN) 2:07.66, 3.