Isleta braces for World Cup

After a successful stint in the 31st Southeast Asian Games, Chloe Isleta is setting her sights on the FINA Swimming World Cup 2022 that kicks off next month in Berlin.

The 24-year-old Isleta said she continues her training in the United States as she is set to see action in the prestigious three-leg short course event
The first leg will be from 21 to 23 October in Berlin while the second leg will be taking place in Toronto from 28 to 30 October and the third will be in Indianapolis from 3 to 5 November.

The winner of each leg will receive $12,000 with the overall champion taking home $100,000 — or roughly P5.7 million.

Isleta, a gold medalist in the previous SEA Games, said she couldn't wait to plunge into action.

"I'm here in the United States for the World Cup tour in Germany, Canada and the US," Isleta told host Nikki Viola during the latest episode of The Athletes' Tribune late Monday.

"It's a short course race so I'm very excited."

Isleta clocked two minutes and 18.60 seconds to rule the women's 200-meter backstroke event to clinch the SEA Games gold medal in Hanoi.

With that, she broke the country's 29-year-old gold medal drought and became the first female swimmer to win a title since Akiko Thomson-Guevarra ruled in the 1993 biennial meet in Singapore.

Her latest stint was with De La Salle University in the ASEAN University Games in Thailand, where she took home four gold medals from women's 100-meter backstroke, 200-meter backstroke, 50-meter backstroke and 200-meter individual medley on top of a bronze from the 50-meter freestyle.

Isleta is now enrolled at La Salle and is thrilled to see action in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 85.

She said she will get to interact with the team after spending most of her time in online training and the recent ASEAN University Games.

"We've had separate meets. We go to one meet and then we get separated to go to another meet. But we get to represent the school as one," said Isleta, whose team aims to knock off defending champion Ateneo de Manila University.

"That's what I'm excited for because we know our personal goals and team goals and being able to see that in person in a big meet is something a lot of us are looking forward to."