2016 SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
- December 6th – December 11th, 2016
- Windsor, Ontario, Canada
- WFCU Centre
- SCM (25m)
- Prelims: 9:30 AM EST/Finals: 6:30 PM EST
- Start Lists/Results
- Live Stream ($)
For the second straight time, Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu and South Africa’s Chad Le Clos earned FINA Swimmer of the Meet honors at the Short Course World Championships. It was a familiar sight at the end of the competition with the two of them posing on the top of the podium, as along with their World Championship success, the two have dominated the World Cup circuit for the last few years, which has resulted in them winning awards together many times in the past.
The award is earned based on a points system, with five points for an individual win, three for 2nd, two for 3rd, and one for 4th. An additional two points is given for every individual World Record.
Hosszu won the women’s award going away, amassing an incredible 42 points with seven gold medals, two silvers and one 4th place finish. The Iron Lady competed in an incredible 11 individual events. She only missed the podium twice, with her 4th place finish coming in the 400 free, and her other swim was an 8th place finish in the 800 free. She qualified for the final in all 11 of the events she contested.
The Hungarian defended her World titles in the 100 & 200 back and the 100 & 200 IM, and added the 100 fly, 200 fly and 400 IM. She improved from silver two years ago in Doha in both the 200 fly and 400 IM, while she didn’t even contest the 100 fly in 2014. She also won silvers in the 200 free and 50 back, matching her result from 2014 in the 200 free and moving up one spot in the 50 back. Overall, she improved her medal count from 8 to 9, but nearly doubled her gold medal count from 4 to 7.
Le Clos led the men’s side with 20 points, earning three gold medals, one silver, and a World Record in the men’s 100 fly. Le Clos won the 50 fly and 200 fly along with the 100, completing the butterfly triple for the second straight Championships.
His silver medal came in the 200 freestyle, failing to defend his title from 2014 as he ran into Park Tae Hwan of Korea who was red hot all week, claiming three gold medals. Park joined Hosszu and Le Clos as the only three swimmers with three-plus individual golds for the week. Leah Smith of the United States and Marco Koch of Germany were the other multi-individual gold medal winners with two apiece.
Find the point system fully explained here. Read FINA’s release on the final day of competition here.