Hosszu Rocks 2:08.55 2IM, Goosen Upsets Proud In 50 Fly In Marseille

2019 FFN GOLDEN TOUR CAMILLE MUFFAT – MARSEILLE

• Friday, March 22nd – Sunday, March 24th
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• SwimSwam Meet Preview
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• Day 1 Prelims Recap/Day 1 Finals Recap
• Day 2 Prelims Recap
• Live Results

Kicking off day 2 finals in Marseille, Mathys Goosen of Netherlands accomplished a mild upset in a stacked men’s 50m fly field, beating the likes of Britain’s Ben Proud, South Africa’s Chad Le Clos and Frenchman Mehdy Metella en route to gold.

Taking the 2nd seeded time of the morning in 23.76 to Proud’s 23.74, Goosen took things up a notch tonight to drop .34 and top the podium in 23.42. That mark is just .04 off of the Dutch National Record of 23.38 held by now-NC State swimmer Nyles Korstanje. It does check-in as a new Golden Tour Record, however.

Proud settled for silver this evening, following up his monster 21.85 50m freestyle winning effort from night 1 with a solid time of 23.49. Proud is the 50m fly British National Record holder with his 22.75 clocked in Budapest to take the 2017 World title.

German Marius Kusch, representing Team Elite/USA here in Marseille, rounded out the top 3 in 23.58.

Just off the podium was Le Clos in 23.71, while Metella was last on the list of sub-24 second swimmers in the final, clinching 5th in 23.76.

Goosen’s effort tonight inserts him into the top 5 performers in the world this season, taking over slot #4.

The women’s 50m back also saw a meet record fall, courtesy of British Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Georgia Davies. Davies hit the wall in 27.75 to represent the only swimmer of the field to delve into sub-28 second territory. She won bronze on the Gold Coast in 27.90, so tonight’s time surpassed that championship performance, for perspective.

Davies’ outing this evening also checks-in as the swimmer’s season-best, crushing the 28.12 she produced in Luxembourg in Germany. She is now situated as #2 in the world, sitting only behind China’s Yuanhui Fu. We’ll see how Yuanhui responds with the Chinese Nationals beginning tomorrow.

Brazil’s Etiene Medeiros snagged the silver in 28.06 tonight, while Dutch athlete Maaike De Waard took the bronze in 28.25.

Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu laid waste to the women’s 200m IM field, powering her way to the fastest performance in the world this season. After establishing herself as the woman to beat with a morning time of 2:11.98, Hosszu fired on all cylinders tonight to claim gold in a monster 2:08.55.

In doing so, Hosszu becomes the first female to be under the 2:09 threshold so far this season and separates herself from Japan’s Yui Ohashi by just about half a second.

In viewing just how big of an in-season performance this was for the Hungarian, Hosszu’s time tonight sits just outside the top 25 performances of all-time in the event and would have earned bronze at the 2017 World Championships. Of course there in Budapest, Hosszu took the gold in 2:07.00.

Finishing with the silver tonight was American Kathleen Baker, who touched in 2:10.65, an impressive time that obliterated the 2:13.27 she threw down just weeks ago at the Pro Swim Series in Des Moines. The Team Elite swimmer now ranks 6th in the world with her Marseille result.

Taking bronze tonight was 16-year-old Anastasia Gorbenko, who just earned a new Israeli National Record in the 200m IM. She held the previous Israeli national standard with the 2:12.88 she produced for gold at last year’s Youth Olympic Games. But, Gorbenko was able to shave some time off that result with a new mark of 2:12.54 to rock the podium tonight.

Serbia’s young Ajna Crevar also notched a new National Record while sliding into 4th place tonight. Entering the meet, Crevar held her nation’s fastest time ever with the 2:13.98 clocked in Buenos Aires, finishing with the silver behind Gorbenko at the Youth Olympic Games.

Tonight, however, the 18-year-old snagged a new lifetime best of 2:13.91 to slice .07 off of that NR.

Of note, Olympian Mireia Belmonte was also in the race, but finished off the podium in 6th in 2:17.83.

Back for more, Hosszu also topped the women’s pack in the 200m fly, logging a mark of 2:07.84 for the win. That represents the Iron Lady’s fastest this season and ranks her 4th in the world, after her impressive 200m IM to boot.

Teammate Liliana Szilagyi also impressed with a sub-2:10 time of 2:08.01, beating the 2:09.73 she produced in January at the Euro Meet.

Belmonte secured hardware with the bronze, touching the wall in 2:13.09.

Dutch swimmer Arno Kamminga submitted another sub-2:10 200m breaststroke performance here in Marseille. After taking the top seed in the morning with a mark of 2:09.68, Kamminga clocked 2:09.86 to win the event easily over Belarus’ Ilya Shymanovich.

Shymanovich hit the wall in 2:11.38, while Brazil’s Raphael Rodrigues earned bronze in 2:13.56.

Kamminga’s morning effort now ranks the Dutchman 6th in the world this season.

The top 6 finishers in the men’s 200m freestyle all dipped under the 1:50 threshold, led by Israel’s Denis Loktev. Loktev snared the top prize in a time of 1:48.67, leading Dion Dreesens of Netherlands, who took silver in 1:48.99.

Rounding out the top 3 was another Israeli in Tomer Frankel, who finished in 1:49.12.

Dutch Olympian Femke Heemskerk rushed to the wall to take gold in the women’s 100m freestyle, registering her 2nd 53-second time of the day. After taking the top seed in 53.58, Heemskerk turned in a slightly slower 53.72, but was still quick enough to hold off a charging French woman in Charlotte Bonnet.

Bonnet hit the wall just .26 later in 53.98, while Heemskerk’s teammate Kim Busch collected bronze in 55.18. Kira Toussaint rocketed herself up from 6th to 4th place in the race, earning a new lifetime best of 55.22 in the process.

Additional Winners:

• David Verraszto of Hungary, and now a member of ISL Team Iron, clinched the men’s 400m IM victory with ease. Verraszto, who has claimed 3 consecutive European Championships gold medals in this event, touched the wall in 4:17.11 to win tonight’s final by over 5 seconds.
• The men’s 1500m free saw Frenchman David Aubry score the win in a time of 15:17.22.
• Greek swimmer Apostolos Christou doubled up on his 100m back win on night 1 by taking the 200m distance this evening. Clocking the only sub-2:00 mark of the field, Apostolos notched 1:58.44 to stand atop the podium.
• Alina Zmushka of Belarus hit a new personal best in the women’s 200m breast. The 21-year-old took the gold tonight in a time of 2:29.77 to earn her first sub-2:30 outing ever.