Swimmers presented wonderful races for this third and final day of the inaugural FINA Swimming World Cup 2019 in Tokyo, Japan

Nation’s favourite Daiya Seto, still fresh from his Gwangju title, set the pace in the 400m IM and clinched the gold at stake, setting a new World Cup record in 4:11.41

 

Australia's Kiah Melverton showed her full power in the ladies’ longest distance, the 800m free, defeating strong contenders such as Maddy Gough (AUS) and Spanish Mireia Belmonte. Melverton won the race in 8:22.24, establishing a new World Cup record.

“I am really happy that I swam faster today than one week ago at the World Championships. This competition was one of my main targets!” Melverton said.

The women's 100m fly was topped by Gwangju finalist Louise Hansson (SWE), who took the split time in the first 50m (27.09) and won, touching home in 57.92.

World record holder Andrii Govorov of Ukraine stole the 50m fly crown in 23.10, beating Hungary’s Szebasztian Szabo (23.11) and USA’s Michael Andrew (23.24).

In the women's 200m backstroke, Emily Seebohm from Australia, the World Cup record holder of this event, maintained her dominance and won the gold medal on offer tonight in 2:09.03. It was Seebohm’s second gold of the meet.

The other Australian winning tonight was Mitchell Larkin as he touched home first in the men's 100m backstroke in 53.76.

Jamaica's Alia Atkinson, who is also a World Cup record holder and a 25m World record holder, showed another dimension of speed in the women's 50m breast and snatched the gold medal in 30.35.

 

“I feel pretty good. I wanted to see if I was faster or slower than at the World Championships, and I am about the same time. So, it was okay. I think my best time is 1:05.9, so I would love to be get back to this result. For that reason, it’s a small stepping stone in that direction,” Atkinson said.

USA's Andrew Wilson pocketed the men’s 200m breast gold in 2:07.77 after a fierce race against Japanese opponent Yasuhiro Koseki, who settled for silver in 2:08.49.

The women's 100m free was highlighted by the participation of Australia's Cate Campbell and Italian star Federica Pellegrini. Campbell finished with a widening gap in 52.64, breaking a new World Cup recor.. Pellegrini placed second in 53.40.

“I am really happy with that time. It’s only point 2 slower than when I swam the World Championships last week. So, I'm a little bit tired coming into this competition. But this week has gone really well. I'm really enjoying racing here and really loving my time in Tokyo,” Campbell said.

Lithuania's Danas Rapsys won the men’s 200m free (1:45.74) leaving Hungary's Dominik Kozma second (1:45.77).

“It was a really tough race. Today is the last day, the time is really good but I need to keep improving on the performance for the other legs,” admitted Rapsys.

In the women's 200m IM, Hungary's Katinka Hosszu bagged her third gold medal of the Tokyo leg in 2:08.63, while the two Japanese swimmers Ohashi (2:08.80) and Teramura (2:10.23) completed the podium.

 

“The last few meters were close and we had a very good race with Yui. I think this competition itself was a good match. We will continue to participate in other events, but I plan to focus on IM,” Hosszu said.

The last event of the Tokyo meet (August 2-4) was the mixed relay 4x100m medley. Team Japan won the relay event in 3:40.00 as they were massively cheered by the home crowd.

 

The Swimming World Cup next stops in Jinan, China, from August 8-10.