Swimming World Cup

October 14, 2012 STOCKHOLM - In Hungarian, “Hosszu” means “long” and that is a perfect adjective for Katinka’s effort in the 2012 edition of the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup: a long and successful effort, that allowed her to collect eight more medals at the third meet of the Series, held in Stockholm from October 13-14. In the Swedish capital, the Magyar champion was first in the 200m, 400m and 800m free, 100m, 200m and 400m IM, and got the silver in the 200m backstroke and 200m butterfly – being also the fastest performer among women, with her 400m IM win (4:28.01). An impressive harvest considering the versatility needed to swim so many events in only two days! In the first legs of the 2012 edition of this World Cup – Dubai and Doha – Katinka Hosszu earned seven gold medals at each of the events, plus two bronze (for a total 24 podium appearances ahead of Moscow, the upcoming World Cup meet). Moreover, after three legs, Hosszu has swum 10,200m if we consider the number of heats and finals contested!

In the final session of the Swedish meet, Hosszu’s main and successful rival was compatriot Zsuzsanna Jakabos, who managed to beat her in the 200m fly. It was probably the most interesting race of the day, with Hosszu swimming in lane 4 and Jakabos in lane 8. Turning her head to the left side to breathe, Jakabos could perfectly control Hosszu’s effort, while Katinka had notorious problems in matching her challenger’s pace. In the end, Jakabos touched first in 2:06.90 and Hosszu got the silver in 2:07.18. Throughout the competition in Stockholm, Jakabos trailed her teammate, being second in the 200m free and 400m IM, third in the 800m free, 200m back and 200m IM and fifth in the 400m free. The triumph in the 200m butterfly was therefore a rewarding consolation for Jakabos. On day 1, only Melissa Ingram (NZL) beat Hosszu, in the 200m backstroke.

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Swimming World Cup

October 13, 2012 STOCKHOLM - Who will stop Katinka Hosszu? After dominating the first two legs of the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup 2012 in Dubai (UAE) and Doha (QAT), winning seven gold medals at each of those meets, the Hungarian versatile star was again the swimmer to beat on the first day of the third leg of the series, being held in Stockholm on October 13-14. The 23-year-old swimmer, 2009 World champion in the 400m individual medley, obtained three titles (and four medals) in the initial day in the Swedish capital and is now, by far, the most successful female swimmer of this year’s World Cup. Moreover, she was the best female performer (919 points) of this first day, thanks to her 200m IM win.

Hosszu’s success at the Eriksdalsbadet in Stockholm started with the triumph in the 800m free, where she got her fastest winning time so far at this World Cup, touching in 8:24.48. The minor medals went to Lotte Friis (DEN, 8:25.96) and to another Magyar swimmer, Zsuzsanna Jakabos, bronze medallist in 8:31.96. Some minutes later, Kosszu was again the best in the 200m free, getting the gold in 1:55.30 – she had been faster in Doha, clocking then 1:54.79. Jakabos was this time second (1:56.31), while Hannah Miley (GBR) finished third in 1:56.58. Hosszu’s winning strategy was once more successful in the 200m individual medley, where she comfortably touched first in 2:08.13, the fastest of her three wins so far in this event at the World Cup. The silver medal was shared by Jakabos and Sophie Allen (GBR) in 2:09.05. The Hungary duet Hosszu-Jakabos was again in action in the 200m backstroke, getting the silver (2:07.44) and bronze (2:08.71) respectively. This time, the gold went to Melissa Ingram (NZL), winner in 2:04.84.

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Swimming World Cup

DOHA, Qatar - Traditionally, Hungarian swimming always favoured long course competitions. Successful swimmers from this country in short course events are rare. We are currently witnessing a change in course that is profitable to the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup as it was brilliantly demonstrated by Hungarian Katinka Hosszu on the final day of the Doha stage at the Hamad swimming complex. The Hungarian swimmer, who has been training at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles (USC) for the last few years, was eager to bounce back from this summer's slump at the London Olympics where she missed the podium in the 400 IM (fourth with 58 hundredths of a second behind China's Li).

With her 14 individual gold medals (seven in each leg), one can easily assure that the Hungarian successfully dispelled all doubt and re-affirmed her place among the world's best ahead of the 2012 FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) in Istanbul in December.

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Swimming World Cup

DOHA, Qatar - The second stage of the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup, which is hosted for the first time by Doha, in Qatar, offers a nice array of athletes with the presence of five Olympic champions or medallists in individual events: South Africans Chad Le Clos and Cameron van der Burgh, Britta Steffen from Germany, American Anthony Ervin and Hungary's Laszlo Cseh. World record holders (short course) Roland Schoeman (RSA), Evgeny Korotyshkin (RUS) and Therese Alshammar (SWE) are also part of the stellar line-up in Doha. Rising stars include 2010 Youth Olympic Games medallists Australian Kenneth To and Ukrainians Daryna Zevina and Andrii Govorov.

Despite the average number of 115 swimmers from 30 nations entered in the competition, the results were of quality on day 1 with nine best world performances in total. Of the 30 nations competing, 16 climbed the podium and seven of them the highest march of the podium. Australia ranks first with five gold medals and one silver, ahead of Japan (4 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze), Hungary and Sweden (3 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze each), South Africa (2 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze), Germany (1 gold and 2 silver) and Ukraine (1 gold and 1 bronze).

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Swimming World Cup

DUBAI, UAE – Chad Le Clos may have been king of the pool with his six golds in Dubai last year at the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup, but in tonight’s session on the final day of competition a new queen has been crowned. 

Katinka Hosszu of Hungary came into the meet a relative unknown outside of swimming circles despite having competed at three Olympic Games, but left as the best female performer of the event, and the talk of the town. Hosszu took an amazing seven individual gold medals and one bronze, as well as a silver and an eighth gold in the mixed relay in an extremely heavy programme over the two days.

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Swimming World Cup

DUBAI, UAE – Post Olympic holidays from swimming were a thing of the past tonight as the big names returned to the pool tonight for their first major competition since the Olympics in London almost eight weeks ago. The stellar line up in every race in the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup in Dubai put on a crowd pleasing display of world class swimming, the calibre of which has not been seen since Dubai hosted the World Championships (25m) in 2010.

As anticipated Olympic champions Cameron van der Burgh and Chad Le Clos thrilled the crowds with exciting racing and close fought victories. After qualifying fastest this morning in the 50m breaststroke, van der Burgh took the gold in his only swim of the night ahead of countryman Guilio Zorzi and Glenn Syders of New Zealand. Le Clos had a much tougher fight to overcome Japan’s Daiya Seto who had qualified ahead of him in the 200m butterfly. Seto led for much of the race, but with the crowd roaring, Le Clos managed to overtake in the last few metres to win by .73 of a second. Velimir Stjepanovic swimming for UAE Clubs came in third, much to the delight of the large home crowd.

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Swimming World Cup

TOKYO, Japan - Swedish superstar Therese Alshammar won the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup crown for an incredible fourth time in Tokyo tonight. The 34-year-old veteran had a relatively quiet time for her in Tokyo but a gold medal in the final event — the 50m Butterfly — reaffirmed her status as the Queen of the World Cup pool. It was her sixth straight victory after missing the opening Dubai round. She was joined on the victory dais by South African revelation, 19-year-old Chad Le Clos, whose 22 World Cup victories led to a commanding win in the men’s section on the second day of the seventh and final FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup meet at the Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Centre.

Alshammar topped the 2011 standings with 145 points, well clear of the USA’s Missy Franklin with 70 and Korea’s Choi Hye Ra with 60. Alshammar took out $US100,000 with Franklin $50,000 and Choi $30,000. Alshammar said that she thinks her season was better than last year. “What pleased me the most was winning all the Butterflys (50m) with four times under 26 seconds. By missing the first round there was less travelling. I have improved my strength and we have worked strongly on technique, making big improvements.”

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Swimming World Cup

TOKYO, Japan - Japan’s Takeshi Matsuda turned it on for the large crowd on the opening day of the seventh and final FINA/Arena Swimming World Cup meet at the Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Centre today. Matsuda gave Brazilian Kaio Almeida’s 200m Butterfly world record a big nudge with a spectacular first leg. He was under world record split by 1.22 at the 100m but lost time in the next 50m, going on to 1:49.50 as against Almeida’s 1:49.11 set in Stockholm, in 2009.

The leading male swimmer of the series, South Africa’s Chad Le Clos finished fast for 1:51.00 and Kazuya Kaneda (JPN) was third in 1:51.05. An excited Matsuda said straight after the race that he wanted to take the record tonight: “I knew I had a chance to break it and even though I didn’t, I am so happy. I knew the record was there to break so I gave it my best with a strong start. I really wanted to take the record in this final.” The three best swims of the night came from the blockbuster Butterfly race — Matsuda scored 989; Le Clos 949 points and Kaneda with 948.

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Swimming World Cup

Australian superstar Ian Thorpe gained the lion’s share of attention at today’s media conference ahead of the seventh and final FINA/Arena Swimming World Cup 2011 meet at the Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Centre this weekend. The hunger for Thorpe quotes dominated proceedings as the large international media contingent fronted six stars who were given a chance to speak. But it was Thorpe’s resurrection as a swimmer that had people clambering for the microphone.

“I never thought I would swim again, I would ever compete again. I spent five years away from the pool and I guess five years not being a swimmer. Just by chance, one day, I thought about swimming and I had thought about doing it previously but this was the first time I thought of the reasons why I would like to do this and those reasons may also be why I don’t want to do this. I decided to have another shot at it."

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Swimming World Cup

BEIJING, China - The South African swimmer bid a farewell to the "Water Cube", gaining inspiration from a venue that hosted the last Olympic Games. He is leaving Beijing with seven medals in his luggage, six of them golden. He is squarely in the lead of the men's FINA World Cup rankings and on pace to collect the $100,000 men's FINA World Cup overall series prize month in the final edition this weekend in Tokyo.
 
"I'm very happy with my performances in Beijing. Tonight was a tougher day for me even though the events were shorter and easier. I'm definitely pleased that this meet is over. I had a two and a half hour nap today and I woke up delirious. It was hard to get up and race today, but I'm pleased with three gold medals tonight and to know the end isn't too far off."

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