The second day of the Doha (QAT) leg of the FINA Swimming World Cup 2018 was highlighted by two records of the competition, set by Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom and US swimmer Blake Pieroni. Sjostrom won two gold medals and broke the World Cup record she had set in Kazan last week (25.39) in the final of the women's 50m butterfly with a time of 25.22. Blake Pieroni's new WCup record was in the final of the men's 100m freestyle with a time of 48.11. 

The second day of the Doha meet was also fruitful for the Hungarian Katinka Hosszu who continued to shine with another two gold medals and two bronze, raising her number of medals in this leg to four gold and three bronze. Among men, the Americans Blake Pieroni and Michael Andrew, the Australian Mitchell Larkin, and the Brazilian Felipe Lima, each one of them added a second gold medal to their collection in Doha. South African star Chad Le Clos couldn’t compete today because of fever. 

Sarah Sjostrom was the star of the second day and got all the spotlight when she won the women's 50m butterfly with a time of 25.22. Ranomi Kromowidjojo from the Netherlands came second in 25.76 and Kimberly Buys from Belgium was third with 25.94.  

Sarah said: "I was faster than in Kazan a few days ago, I am very pleasant with my new world cup record, I always want to see improvement, and do my super best in the 50 so I am happy''.

Sarah Sjostrom's second gold medal of the day and the third in total in Doha was in the final of the women's 200m freestyle with a time of 1:56.32. The silver medal was for Femke Heemskerk from the Netherlands with 1:56.92 while the bronze went to the Hungarian Katinka Hosszu with 2:00.16.

The second new World Cup record in Doha was established by the American swimmer Blake Pieroni in the exciting final of the men's 100m freestyle with a time of 48.11. The Russian swimmer Vladimir Morozov came second in 48.43 and Pieter Timmers from Belgium was third with 49.09. 

Blake said: "From the beginning I felt I had a chance to break it, but wasn’t sure. I am feeling great''.

The final of the women's 400m individual medley gave, as expected, the gold medal to Katinka Hosszu with a time of 4:39.56. Her teammate Zsuzanna Jakabos came second with 4:44.87 and the Spanish Alba Vazquez Ruiz was third in 4:48.68. Katinka also won another gold medal in this second day, when she touched first in the 100m backstroke final, with a time of 59.63. Kira Toussaint from the Netherlands was second in 1:00.05 and the Spanish Tamara Frias Molina came third with 1:02.47. 

In the final of the men's 1500m freestyle, the Spanish Marcos Gil Corbacho triumphed with a time of 15:28.19 and the second place was for his teammate Ferran Julia Tous with 15:42.84, while the third place was for the Chinese Zhwqi Lin. Marcos Gil Corbacho said: "It was a long and hard race, but I managed to stay in front and win, and I am so happy''.

The American Michael Andrew came first in the final of the men's 50m backstroke with a time of 24.49 followed by the Russian Vladimir Morozov who won his second silver medal of the day with 24.79. The bronze went to the Australian Mitchell Larkin in 25.15.

In the final of the men's 50m breaststroke, the Brazilian Felipe Lima won the gold with a time of 26.84, silver went to the American Michael Andrew in 27.47 and the bronze was for the Russian Kirill Prigoda with 27.60.


Felipe Lima (BRA)

Yulia Efimova from Russia won her second gold in Doha when she touched first in the final of the women's 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:06.27. Her compatriot Vitalina Simonova came second with 1:07.90 and the third was Sishi Zhang from China with 1:10.35. Yulia said: ''Sometimes you don’t have enough time to win more than a race at the same day, I am very happy and hoping to win tomorrow also''.

In the final of the men's 200m individual medley, Australia’s Mitchell Larkin came first with a time of 1:59.14, followed by Thomas Peribonio from Ecuador with 2:00.40, while the bronze went to Russia’s Kirill Prigoda with 2:03.47. In the final of the men's 200m butterfly, Maksym Shemberev from Azerbaijan won the gold with a time of 1:58.45, the second was the Hungarian David Verraszto with 1:58.70 and the third place was for the Chinese Yuhang Wu in 1:59.81.

The last event of the second day in Doha was the final of the mixed 4x100m free relay and the winner was the quartet of the Netherlands in a time of 3:30.81. The Hungarian team came second with 3:37.71 and the China won the bronze in 3:40.76.  

Top-3 ranking after Doha, Day 2:

MEN
1. MOROZOV Vladimir (RUS) 84 pts
2. ANDREW Michael (USA) 75
3. LARKIN Mitchell (AUS) 66

WOMEN
1. SJOSTROM Sarah (SWE) 96 pts
2. HOSSZU Katinka (HUN) 72
3. EFIMOVA Yulia (RUS) 66