European Champion Abbie Wood was in fine form on return from her summer break, taking three short course medals over the weekend as the FINA Swimming World Cup opening leg took place in Berlin.
The Loughborough Performance Centre athlete secured her best result on Saturday evening with a silver medal in the 400m Individual Medley. Following Olympic bronze medallist Hali Flickenger (USA) into the wall, Wood managed to hold off the fast-finishing charge of Bailey Andison (CAN) getting the touch by six hundredths of a second over her rival in an intense battle.
That resulted added to her accomplished bronze medal in the 200m Breaststroke on the opening night, before the closing final of the three-day World Cup programme saw Wood add a further bronze in the 200m Individual Medley - this time pipped by just 0.03 seconds to the wall for second.
Speaking after her opening bronze in the breaststroke, Wood was happy with her performance:
“It’s the first race of the season so I’m really happy with the time. I’ve had a big break and a good month off before we kick off the next two years for Paris – so to do that after a month break and only a few weeks back I’m really happy.”
Sienna Robinson also secured an appearance in the 200m Breaststroke final alongside Wood, as she finished in eighth place – just a few seconds outside the podium places.
The short course event in Berlin was the start of a three-leg FINA World Cup series which will see athletes travel to Toronto and then on to Indianapolis before crowning individual champions based on points accrued over the three events. 21 British athletes took part in the German capital - featuring representation from a vast range of areas and training centres around Great Britain - with a number of younger athletes using the competition to build senior racing experience on the international scene.
Full results from the weekend can be found here, with further information on the FINA World Cup series here.