With a busy prelims session on the first day of the 2014 Dubai World Cup, Katinka Hosszu, is within a second of the world record in four different events; the 200 Freestyle, 50 Backstroke, 200 IM, and the 200 Backstroke. Hosszu looked good in Doha with a few World Records and could continue that trend here this weekend.
The women’s events have a few good races shaping up. Although Hosszu is way ahead of the field in every event, there are several close races behind her and in other events. The Women’s 100 breaststroke will be a good race to watch. Alia Atkinson had the fastest time of the morning at :04.49, followed by Breeja Larson at 1:04.87. Laura Sogar had the third fastest time at Caitlin Leverenz is seeded fifth.
In the women’s 50 freestyle, two women were under 25 seconds this morning to claim the top two seeds. Inge Decker posted a 24.49 and Markie D’cruz was 24.92. Lehesta Kemp was also close to breaking 25 seconds with her time of 25.14.
In the women’s 200 IM, Hosszu is seeded way ahead of the field at 2:03.07, but a good race for second place will be going on between Caitlin Leverenz, Mireia Belmonte, and Lisa Zaiser. All of those swimmers are within a second of second place.
On the men’s side, Chad Le Clos had the fastest time of the morning at 48.09, followed closely by Konrad Czerniak at 48.25. In the men’s 50 breaststroke, two swimmers broke 27 this morning to earn the top two seeds. Fabio Scozzoli and Andrei Nikolaev were 26.57 and 26.97, respectively.
Tom Shields had the fastest time of the morning in the 200 fly, but the world record holder, Chad Le Clos, didn’t swim the event. Shields was still eight seconds off of Le Clos’s world record time.
The World Record holder in the 200 breaststroke, Daniel Gyurta, claimed the top seed for finals in the men’s 200 Breaststroke with his time of 2:06.97.
George Bovvell and Cody Miller set up a good race in the men’s 100 IM, where both swimmers were 53.36 and 53.54.
The final men’s event of the day was the men’s 50 butterfly. Roland Schoeman had the fastest time of the morning 22.64.