SWC 2016, Paris-Chartres, Day 2 – Hosszu starts the season in style

Katinka Hosszu of Hungary picked up another four gold medals on Day 2 of the second leg of the FINA/airweave Swimming World Cup 2016 in Paris-Chartres on August 27.

She is the most decorated athlete of the meet so far with 11 medals in total (7 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze).

Other multiple winners today were Philip Heintz (GER) and Jeanette Ottesen (DEN).

Men’s race

Yesterday’s 400m IM winner Philip Heintz (GER) clocked the best time in the 200m free in 1:43.13, giving no chance to his opponents James Guy (GBR) and Jordan Pothain (FRA) who took silver and bronze respectively. Heintz becomes the first German swimmer to win the men's 200m free since Paul Biedermann in Berlin in 2011.

Rocket Heintz also clinched gold in the 200m IM in 1:52.03 and was followed into the wall by Hiromasa Fujimori (JPN) and Chad Le Clos (RSA) with times of 1:53.58 and 1:54.96 respectively.

South Africa’s star Cameron Van der Burgh took his third gold medal of the meet (2 on Day 1) in the 100m breast (56.42), while two Russians were behind him – Kirill Prigoda (silver) and yesterday’s World Record setter Vladimir Morozov (bronze).

The latter took the first place in the 50m free by achieving a time of 20.81 seconds. This gave him his third gold medal of the meet (2 on Day 1), and he takes the lead of the ranking with 86 points. 

Le Clos, who detains the World Record in the 100m fly, won the event again today in 49.05. Shortly behind him was Great Britain’s Adam Barrett for silver and Pavel Sankovich (BLR) for bronze.

In the 50m back, triple World Champion Camille Lacourt (FRA) did not manage to claim a medal. The best he ever did in this event was a third place. However his compatriot Jeremy Stravius achieved the best time in 22.85. He previously took a gold medal in this event in Singapore in 2011 and in Doha in 2013. Young athlete Mitch Larkin (AUS) was bronze and Belarus’ Sankovich, another nice revelation in Chartres, silver.

Larkin however clocked the best time of 1:50.10 in the 200m back, for the second time of his career. This event’s podium was completed exclusively by Australians with Bobby Hurley in second position and Jack Gerrard in third.

In a great effort Jan Micka of Czech Republic grabbed the 1500m free gold medal in 14:56.21.

Women’s race

In the women’s field, Jeanette Ottesen (DEN) continued her winning streak today and clocked a winning time of 51.84 in the 100m free. Two Hungarians, Hosszu and Zsuzsanna Jakabos, touched home after her, in 52.12 and 53.50 respectively. The World Record holder in this event is Cate Campbell of Australia.

Ottesen won the 50m fly in 25.09, her sixth victory in total in this event and Belgium took its first medal (silver) of the event today with Kimberly Buys in a time of 25.77.

However Hosszu did not miss the opportunity to grab her fourth gold in this meet, in the 100m back. She beat her main opponent in this event Emily Seebohm (AUS, 56.42) in 55.93. The last swimmer to step on the podium was Ukrainian Daryna Zevina.

Shortly after, helped by her husband and coach’s cheering, the unbeatable Magyar athlete clinched a fifth medal – in the 400m free, in front of China’s Shao Yiwen and Leah Neale (AUS). And the winning streak continued for Hosszu as she also topped the 100m IM 57.63 (sixth gold at this point).

After her World Record tie of yesterday, Alia Atkinson (JAM) also made the headlines today by clinching gold in the 50m breast for an outright record 11th time. Yulia Efimova of Russia and USA’s Katie Meili completed the podium.

Germany’s Franziska Hentke was back today for another victory in the 200m fly in 2:05.16. Madeline Groves (AUS) took silver, while Jakabos (HUN) clinched the bronze.

In the 200m breast, two Japanese who looked like twins in the water, made it to the podium- Rie Kaneto took gold, for a record 12th time, and Miho Takahashi bronze. Efimova was in the middle for silver.

In the last individual event of the Paris-Chartres rendezvous, Hungary’s most successful swimmer grabbed a seventh gold in her last event of the day, the 400m IM in 4:36.85.
As a reminder, Hosszu was the overall winner of all previous editions of the Swimming World Cup since 2012.

Relay

Traditionally, the two-day competition concluded with the mixed 4x50 free relay in which France triumphed again.
2. Russia, 3. Australia, 4. USA, 5. China, 6. Austria

Action in Paris-Chartres is now completed and will resume next week in Berlin (GER) on August 30-31.

This competition is sponsored by airweave, a FINA partner since 2014.

All results are provided by OMEGA and available here