Displaying her favorite nickname Iron Lady proudly on her cap, three-time Olympic champion Katinka Hosszu of Hungary reaffirmed her reputation by winning 3 golds, 1 silver and 2 bronzes while Chinese Zhu Menghui broke the world junior record in the women's 50m free on Day 1 of the FINA/airweave Swimming World Cup 2016 in Beijing, China, on Friday September 30.

Hosszu, front leader of the World Cup after the first three legs, started her gold medal hunting with the 200m free (in 1:53.89). She then claimed victory in the 50m back in 26.68 and in the 200m IM in 2:07.37.

It was Daryna Zevina of Ukraine who stopped Hosszu golden streak in the 200m back by defeating her in 2:01.61. Hosszu came second in 2:04.68 and Xu Huiyi of China 2:06.42.

Jeanette Ottensen of Denmark topped the 100m fly (56.37), ahead of Lu Ying of China (56.48) and Hosszu (56.67).

In the women's 800m free, Hou Yawen of China won the title in 8:16.81, beating compatriot Li Bingjie (8:19.34) and Hosszu (8:25.62).

"I feel the love in Beijing as the local fans cheer for me. The fans here are amazing. I compete 14 events altogether in Beijing and today I have 7 in which I got 6 medals. My goal is to challenge my limit and myself," Hosszu smiled.

"For me the World Cup is just a rest. I take competition as training while my training is much harder than the races. I enjoy the difference of the short course and long course. I can also try some events that I don't compete in the long course. I don't have pressure if I miss some events or make some mistakes. The only event I have not tried is the breaststroke right now. Maybe in the future," Hosszu said. 

The 17-year-old Zhu Menghui of China broke the world junior record in the women's 50m free while she tied with Olympic champion Jeanette Ottensen (DEN) in 24.00.

"I did not train enough after the Olympic Games. I did not expect I could swim that fast. Maybe it is because of the short course, it made me more excited," Zhu said.

Olympic runner-up in the 100m back Xu Jiayu continued his good form by snatching his favorite event’s (the 100m back) title in 50.22, beating Pavel Sankovich of Belarus 50.26 and Bobby Hurley of Australia 50.40.

"I did not expect to defeat the champion and the result was OK for me. I had no pressure and did my best!" said Xu, who was also part of the the winning team in the mixed 4X50m medley relay (1:40.12), together with Shi Jinglin, Lu Ying and Yu Hexin, edging Russia (1:40.25) and Hong Kong (1:44.82).

Vladimir Morozov of Russia clinched two titles in the men's 100m free in 45.99 and the 100m IM in 51.06. He also grabbed a silver medal in the 50m breast (26.77) behind Felipe Lima of Brazil (26.10).

Chad Le Clos of South Africa beat the rest of his rivals in the men's 200m fly in 1:49.82. Daiya Seto of Japan came second in 1:52.59 and Phillip Neintz of Germany third in 1:52.88. Clos also was the fastest in the 50m fly (22.14).

Alia Atkinson of Jamaica won the women's 100m breast in 1:03.42, beating Katie Meili of USA (1:04.00) and Rie Kaneto of Japan (1:04.49).

In other men's events, Myles Brown (RSA) topped the 400m free in 3:40.38; Marco Koch of Germany touched home first in the 200m breast in 2:03.21; and Seto Daiya of Japan dominated the 400m IM 4:04.26.

The two-day World Cup in Beijing attracted about 110 swimmers from 22 countries and will resume tomorrow for more action in the Water Cube.