Swimming World Cup

November 11, 2012 SINGAPORE - Kenneth To (AUS) and Katinka Hosszu (HUN) were crowned as new champions of the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup, whose 2012 edition concluded in Singapore (SIN) on November 10-11. Both the Australian and Hungarian swimmers were in the lead of the men’s and women’s ranking before the last leg and just confirmed their credentials in the final meet of the competition. To was even the best performer in Singapore, winning the 100m individual medley on Day 1, in a time of 51.50 (957 points), while Hosszu got the second best performance among women, finishing second (2:06.78, 949 points) to her compatriot Zsuzsanna Jakabos in the 200m IM. Both for To and Hosszu, this was their first success in the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup.

“I was confident of winning (the overall title) after winning the 100 metre individual medley (IM) last night. It was difficult today, not being able to sleep last night. I was very happy, very excited,” To said.

“This is my first time doing the entire series, and it’s been an amazing experience. It taught me how to back up race after race, and how to perform whenever it’s needed. Picking up the wins along the way helped boost my confidence, knowing that I can perform in any situation thrown at me. My goal for now is to make the Australian team for the world long course championships in Barcelona next year. That will be my major target,” he concluded.

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Swimming World Cup

November 10, 2012 SINGAPORE - The leaders of the overall ranking of the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup 2012 confirmed their will to get the US$100,000 prize money back home after the first day of the eighth and final meet of the series in Singapore (SIN). Among men, Kenneth To (AUS) was the most “valuable” swimmer of the finals’ session winning the gold in the 100m individual medley duel with George Bovell (TRI). Thanks to his 51.50, To got 957 points, the best performance of the day, and practically assured his victory in 2012, as he was leading the scoring before Singapore with 145 points against 125 for Bovell. The star of Trinidad and Tobago was only the third best performer of the session, with his second place in that event (946 points for a time of 51.69).

In the women’s field, Katinka Hosszu (HUN) had an enormous advance over her compatriot Zsuzsanna Jakabos (146 points against 79) before the last leg of the circuit and in Singapore was the second best performer precisely behind her main challenger – in the 200m individual medley duel, Jakabos won in 2:06.41 (957 points), while Hosszu was second in 2:06.78 (949). The latter is therefore the virtual winner of the 2012 edition before the last day of the competition on November 11.

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Swimming World Cup

November 7, 2012 TOKYO - Katinka Hosszu (HUN) collected two more gold medals in the final day of the seventh leg of the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup 2012, which concluded in Tokyo (JPN) on November 7. After three victories on Day 1, the Magyar champion has now an accumulated total of 35 gold medals in this year’s series, being the most successful athlete of the competition.

Hosszu dominated the women’s 200m butterfly in 2:05.90 and the 400m individual medley in 4:28.14, leaving in both cases her compatriot Zsuzsanna Jakabos with the silver medal. Moreover, Hosszu consolidated her lead in the overall ranking of the World Cup, and now, before the last leg in Singapore, she can only lose the title in one circumstance: if Jakabos establishes a new World Record in Singapore and she is not in the first 10 ranked swimmers of the meet. A very remote possibility given the regularity of Hosszu throughout the entire circuit.

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Swimming World Cup

November 6, 2012 TOKYO - Japan’s Daiya Seto was the swimmer in evidence in the first day of the seventh leg of the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup 2012, being held in Tokyo (JPN) on November 6-7, after establishing a new record of the competition in the men’s 400m individual medley. The 18-year-old athlete touched home in 4:00.02, bettering the previous World Cup record (4:00.12) he had set in the fifth meet of the series in Berlin (GER). Moreover, it was Seto’s sixth win in this event throughout the 2012 circuit – the Japanese star was not present in Beijing (CHN).

Still among men, Stanislav Donets (RUS) got the most valuable performance of this inaugural day in Tokyo, winning the 100m backstroke in a good time of 49.49 (worth 967 points). Donets is also dominating this event in 2012, being his fifth victory (and the fastest) in the World Cup – his previous best time had been set in Moscow (RUS), in 49.74. Also in good shape, Kazuya Kaneda (JPN) comfortably won the 200m butterfly, clocking 1:51.08 for the gold. It was also the fastest winning time of 2012 in this event, after a previous 1:51.22 effort of Kaneda in Beijing. At home, this good result gave him the second most valuable performance of the day in the men’s field (947 points).

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Swimming World Cup

November 3, 2012 BEIJING - Chinese 16-year-old swimming star Ye Shiwen claimed her second gold medal at the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup in Beijing as the double Olympic champion came from behind to win the women's 400m individual medley.
 
Ye, gold medallist in this event at the 2012 London Olympic Games, powered home for the win, clocking 4: 26.93 and beating Hungary's Katinka Hosszu by 0.83 seconds. Her compatriot Zsuzsanna Jakabos took third in 4:31.28.

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Swimming World Cup

November 2, 2012 BEIJING - Two-time Olympic champion Ye Shiwen from China won the women's 200m individual medley, touching home 0.09 seconds shy of the meet record on day 1 at the sixth stop of the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup, taking place in Beijing's Water Cube from November 2-3.

Ye, 16, who stunned the world by claiming both the 200m and 400m medley golds at the London Olympic Games and breaking the world record in the 200m medley, stormed in 2:06.10. The current meet record is held by Evelyn Verraszto of Hungary, who set it in Moscow on November 2, 2009.

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Swimming World Cup

October 21, 2012 BERLIN - Today the French won the 400m freestyle missing the World record by just one hundredth. Camille Muffat was definitely the best swimmer of the meet. The French swimmer, who is based in Nice, France, and is coached by Fabrice Pellerin, today set the best performance of the meet when she won the 400m freestyle in 3:54.93, a World Cup record, just one hundredth shy of the world record. On the first day Muffat set the second best performance among women in the 200m freestyle. Overall, two World Cup records were set in Berlin, including that of Daiya Seto (JPN) on the first day.

There were nine double winners, three men and six women. Men: Stanislav Donets (RUS, backstroke), Fabio Scozzoli (ITA, breaststroke), Anthony Ervin (USA, sprint freestyle). Women: Ilaria Bianchi (ITA, butterfly), Britta Steffen (GER, sprint freestyle), Camille Muffat (FRA, freestyle), Jessica Hardy (USA), Katinka Hosszu (HUN).

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Swimming World Cup

BERLIN, Germany - Traditionally the World Cup meeting in Berlin is one of the strongest of the whole circuit. This year it does not make any exception. Though it has a strong “local” significance, from the point of view of the overall participation it may be more appropriate to label it as “glocal”, for its heavily significant international presence.

There are the French, who, this morning, have easily qualified for the finals: Camille Muffat with the fastest time in the 200m freestyle (1:54:21, best performance of the morning with 922 points), Yannick Agnel with the 5th time (a modest 48.65) in the 100m freestyle.

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Swimming World Cup

October 18, 2012 MOSCOW - The second day of the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup in Moscow wrapped up with nice performances. Daiya Seto (JPN) won comfortably the men's 1500m free in 15:03.02. Anton Goncharov (UKR) and Mauricio Fiol Villanueva (PER) finished second and third, respectively.

Jessica Hardy (USA) got her first medal of the day in the 100m free, where she finished second (53.74) behind Britta Steffen (GER, 52.92). She then proceeded to capture the gold, only a few minutes later, in the 50m breast (30.29).

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Swimming World Cup

October 17, 2012 MOSCOW - The fourth leg of the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup is being held at the Olympijsky Swimming pool in the Russian capital. Russian swimming fans like to say that this pool is very special: since the 1980 Olympics, which took place here also, 46 World and 40 European records were broken, evidencing that these waters are quite "fast". Moscow has played host to the short-course event a total eight times since 2002. For the 2012 edition, more than 330 swimmers entered the competition.

The president of the Russian Swimming Federation, four-time Olympic champion Vladimir Salnikov mentioned at the opening press conference that the competition gives outstanding experience to young Russian swimmers, underlining that for most of them, the World Cup in Moscow was where they made their first mark on the  international swimming stage.

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