SWC 2015, Dubai: Did you know that…

The 2015 edition of the FINA/airweave Swimming World Cup comes to an end on this November 6-7 in the superb Hamdan Sports Complex of Dubai (UAE), and before tonight’s finals we offer you an overview of this season’s competition. After the first seven legs, many great performances were produced and each of the 32 individual events on the programme has many “stories” to tell.

Starting with the men’s competition, Cameron van der Burgh (RSA) is the virtual winner of the series, with 327 points in the overall ranking before the last stop in the UAE. The South African star has been one of the most consistent swimmers of the year, naturally shining in his pet events, the 50m and 100m breaststroke. He holds a very significant statistic in these two races, as he was the winner in all of them, starting with the Moscow meet, a couple of days after the conclusion of the 16th FINA World Championships in Kazan, also in Russia. Van der Burgh’s fastest time in the 100m was registered in the second leg of the circuit in Paris-Chartres (FRA), with 58.97, while the fastest of his six wins in the 50m (due to an abnormal level of haze, the first final’s session was cancelled in Singapore) was also in the French meet, with a 26.74 effort. This is the best performance so far among men’s victories, with its 992 points, according with the FINA Points Table (the 1000-point mark being the reference for the World Record).

After the morning heats in Dubai, Adam Peaty (GBR), the world champion and record holder since Kazan in 26.42, was the fastest (27.11) qualifier in the 50m, perhaps meaning that the series of Van der Burgh (second best of the heats, in 27.31) could be broken…

Besides the South African, only David Verraszto (HUN) has a complete set of victories in the 400m individual medley – from his six successes (this event in Singapore was also cancelled), the Magyar has a best time from Moscow in 4:14.89. The Hungarian is presently the third best of the ranking, behind the 2014 winner of the series, Chad Le Clos (RSA). The South African has a total of nine wins in 2015, in four events (twice in the 100m free, 50m fly, 100m fly and 200m fly, and once in the 200m back).  

The next level goes to a maximum of four gold medals in the same event: in this category, we have only two athletes – Katsumi Nakamura, from Japan, in the 50m free (Hong Kong, Beijing, Singapore and Tokyo), and Daniel Smith, from Australia, in the 200m free (Paris-Chartres, Hong Kong, Beijing and Singapore).
 
On the other extreme, the 200m breast is the only event with six different winners (Singapore was also not contested) in 2015 – Marco Koch (GER), freshly crowned world champion in Kazan, was the fastest winner in Moscow, in a time of 2:08.77.

In the women’s field, things are even clearer. Katinka Hosszu, from Hungary, and winner of the series since 2012, will also be the best in 2015 – she has 570 points before Dubai, well ahead of runner-up Emily Seebohm (AUS), with 381.

The Magyar’s roll of honour is really impressive – since 2012, she has a total of 149 gold medals, including 27 in 2015, before the finals in UAE. This year, Hosszu has a perfect record in the 200m and 400m individual medley (best times of 2:09.85 and 4:35.80, respectively in Tokyo and Paris-Chartres), but was also very solid in the 200m free (she only lost once, in Beijing, to China’s Duo Shen). Other events where Hosszu won gold include: 100m free, 400m free, 800m free, 200m back, 100m fly and 200m fly! After the preliminaries of the initial day in Dubai, the Hungarian is the fastest qualifier for the 200m back and 200m IM finals, and ranked second to Federica Pellegrini (ITA) in what will be a thrilling decisive race in the 200m free.

Second best of the year, Seebohm was also a regular presence in the World Cup. She remains unbeaten in the 100m back (best time of 58.34 in Doha), but she was also quite successful in the 50m (four victories) and 200m (three wins). In the morning of Day 1 in Dubai, she qualified first for the final of the shortest event, in 28.10 (in front of a certain Hosszu…).

In the breaststroke events, Alia Atkinson (JAM) also shone in 2015, with five gold in the 50m and three in the 100m. Jeanette Ottesen (DEN) won four times the 50m fly (best time of the series, 25.51, in Moscow), Cate Campbell (AUS) was the best on three occasions in the 100m free, while Vitalina Simonova (RUS) had also a triple success in the 200m back and Zsuzsanna Jakabos (HUN) collected three gold in 200m fly.