Hosszu, Rapsys & Andrew Give Golden Closure To First World Cup Cluster

2019 FINA WORLD CUP #3 – SINGAPORE

• Thursday, August 15th – Saturday, August 17th
• OCBC Aquatic Centre, Singapore
• LCM
• SwimSwam Preview
• Entries
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap
• Results

The final day of action in Singapore brought the heat in the morning, with Hungary’s Iron Lady Katinka Hosszu wasting no time putting up a big-time swim.

Contesting the prelims of the women’s 200m IM, the Olympic gold medalist in the event ripped a top-seeded effort of 2:08.15 to clear her previous World Cup Record mark of 2:08.61 that’s been on the books since the Dubai stop in 2015.

Hosszu took the World Championships title this year in a mark of 2:07.53, but her outing this morning would have checked in with the silver in Gwangju. Although Hosszu was slightly slower this evening, hitting the wall in a mark of 2:08.63, the 30-year-old topped the podium by 5 solid seconds.

Moving on to the finals, Lithuanian Danas Rapsys raced the 200m free of his life, stopping the clock at a menacing time of 1:44.38. Splitting 50.99/53.39, Rapsys dipped under the 1:45 threshold for the first time of his career, becoming the 6th fastest performer ever in the event. You can read more about Rapsys’ historic performance, the fastest time in the world over the past 6 years, here.

Michelle Coleman got it done in the women’s 100m freestyle tonight, putting up the 6th best time of her career. The Swede collected a winning result of 53.63 to represent the only swimmer under not only 54, but 55, tying her fastest time of 2019 from Stockholm in April.

American Erica Sullivan snagged the 800m freestyle victory this evening, rocking a winning mark of 8:26.60. That time checks-in as the 3rd best of her career, but the 18-year-old has been on a tear in this event over the 3 stops of the World Cup. The Sandpiper swimmer logged a PB of 8:26.13 at the previous stop in Jinan, so she was less than half a second away with another convincing swim tonight at the OCBC Aquatic Centre.

The women’s 100m fly saw Chinese athlete Zhang Yufei get under the 58-second barrier, stopping the clock in 57.94 for the win. Splitting 27.00/30.94, Zhang hit a time within a second of the 57.13 she produced at Worlds that rendered her 13th after the semi-finals.

Hungary’s Zsuzsanna Jakabos flew to a time of 58.43, just .09 outside her own personal best, for silver, while Danish Olympian Jeanette Ottesen rounded out the top 3 with a 1fly time of 58.49. That effort was her 2nd fastest of the World Cup Series thus far, sitting only behind the 58.34 she logged in Jinan.

America’s Michael Andrew took home a gold from Singapore, reaping the top prize in the men’s 50m fly. He finished with a time of 23.07, not terribly off his own lifetime best of 22.80 logged at the 2018 U.S. Nationals. Hungary’s Sebastian Sabo earned runner-up status in 23.14 tonight.

Another American in Andrew Wilson nailed a winning effort in the men’s 200m breast, producing a time of 2:09.11 for the win. Representing the only swimmer under 2:10 in the race, Wilson got the job done, although he was more electric in Tokyo, where he notched a lifetime best of 2:07.77.

Lithuanian Andrius Sidlauskas nailed silver in 2:11.04 behind Wilson in this 2breast, while another American, Jonathan Tybur, wrangled up 3rd.

For Tybur, the former Texas A&M Aggie holds a personal best of 2:11.55 from last year’s U.S. Nationals and was hoping to get onto the U.S. National Team with a sub-2:10. He wasn’t able to get to that range, however, hitting the wall in 2:12.36, a time just.11 over his World University Games finals performance.

Additional Notes:

• Thomas Fraser-Holmes of Australia won the men’s 400m IM handily, with his podium-topping time of 4:17.14, beating the field by over 8 seconds. TFH was 4:16.93 for 12th at this year’s World Championships. TFH also finished with the 200m free silver tonight behind Rapsys’ monster effort, with the Aussie touching in 1:48.69.
• Australian legend Emily Seebohm got on the board in the women’s 200m back, clocking a winning time of 2:10.50 to win by over 5 seconds. She also finished 4th in the women’s 50m breaststroke in a time of 32.22.
• Winning the women’s 50m breast was Jamaica’s Alia Atkinson, with the veteran punching the clock in a time of 30.31. That outing beat the 30.34 the 30-year-old put up in Gwangju for 4th. Breeja Larson of the United States was also under 31-seconds for silver in 30.93.
• Aussie Mitch Larkin nailed the best time of the field in the men’s 100m back, hitting a time of 53.43. Splitting 26.07/27.36, Larkin got to the wall ahead of Andrew and fellow Australian Tristan Hollard, who finished in times of 54.29 and 54.93, respectively.
• America ended this Singapore stop with a collective gold in the mixed medley relay, as the combination of Andrew, Larson, Giles Smith, and Sullivan produced a winning effort of 3:52.17. The splits for Americans included 55.10 for Andrew, 1:07.83 for Larson, 51.83 for Smith and 57.31 for Sullivan.