Le Clos and Hosszu Continue World Cup Quest In Dubai

The FINA World Cup Series continued today in Dubai with Chad le Clos and Katinka Hosszu looking to add to their lead in the point standings in a quest to become the 2013 World Cup Champions.

Coming into today the point standings were as follows:

Men:

1. Chad le Clos – 197
2. Vlad Morozov – 141
3. Kenneth To – 99

Women:

1. Katinka Hosszu – 384
2. Mireia Belmonte – 130
3. Sarah Sjoestroem – 87

Women’s 800 freestyle

Mireia Belmonte of Spain picked up the first win of the evening taking the 800 freestyle in a time of 8:14.12. Belmonte the current world record holder in the event, posting a 7:59.34 at the World Cup in Berlin negative splitting race, swimming the first 400 in a time of 3:59.80 followed by a second half of 3:59.54. In her first race in Dubai she swam her race in the same manner, but much

Mireia BELMONTE GARCIA (Photo Credit: Victor Puig, victorpuig.com)

more dramatically taking out the first 400 in a time of 4:09.01, following that up with a 4:05.11.

Fellow Spaniard Melani Costa finished second in a time of 8:16.55 followed by Sarah Kohler of Germany who recorded a time of 8:18.90.

In her first race of the evening Hungarian Katinka Hosszu finished fifth in a time of 8:26.08.

Men’s 400 IM

Hungarian David Verraszto won the men’s 400 IM posting a time of 4:05.30. Verraszto won the same event in Moscow recording a time of 4:06.92.

Ous Mellouli returned to competition in Dubai challenging for his first medal on the international stage since the World Championships in Barcelona, “It’s my first competition back in the pool (since the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona) and it’s good to be back here. I have unbelievable memories from 2010.”

Mellouli finished second in the 400 IM finishing in a time of 4:08.76.

Australian Travis Mahoney finished third touching in a time of 4:11.07.

Men’s 100 freestyle

Russian Vlad Morozov continued his domination of the 100 freestyle at the World Cup, already having won the event in Eindhoven, Berlina and Moscow, taking the event in Dubai in a time of 45.84. Morozov once again had an led the way from start to finish turning in a time of 21.84, matching his first 50 split from Moscow, in the end he was not able to match his winning time 45.68. from the meet in his home country.

American Anthony Ervin who competed in his first World Cup event of the year finished second posting a time of 46.88 while Australian Kenneth To finished third in a time of 47.01.

Women’s 200 freestyle

After finishing outside the medals in the 800 freestyle Katinka Hosszu returned to the pool battling Frederike Heemskerk of the Netherlands and Melani Costa in the 200 freestyle. Heemskerk turned at the half way point in a time of 55.38 leading Hosszu who hit the 100 wall in a time of 55.66. Heemskerk continue lead until the final 50 meters which is when Hosszu over took the Dutch swimmer winning the event in a time of 1:53.21.

Heemskerk finished second in a time of 1:53.46 while Costa, who also competed in the 800 freestyle earlier in the evening finished third in a time of 1:53.90.

Men’s 50 breaststroke

South African Roland Schoeman continued his winning ways in the 50 breaststroke taking the event in a time of 25.96. Although the race in Dubai was closer than the one in Moscow, where Schoeman bettered the next competitor by 1.26 seconds, it was still a dominating performance where he beat Hendrik Feldwehr of Germany by just under a second.

Feldwehr finished second in a time of 26.95 followed by Shinri Shioura of Japan who posted a time of 27.83.

Women’s 100 breaststroke

The absence of world record holder Ruta Meilutyte did not make the 100 breaststroke any less compelling. Meilutyte set a new world record of 1:02.36 in Moscow and in Dubai Jamaican Alia Atkinson gave the new standard a run for its’ money winning the event in a time of 1:02.91. This was an incredible race for Atkinson who improved her time of 1:04.64 by almost two seconds and improved on her life time best of 1:03.41, which she posted in Eindhoven by half a second.

50 breaststroke world champion Yulia Efimova of Russia finished followed Atkinson finishing over a second behind posting a 1:04.00 while Amit Ivry of Israel finished third in a time of 1:06.70.

Women’s 100 butterfly

After taking a long break at the conclusion of the World Cup in Berlin Jeanette Ottesen Gray returned to competition tonight in Dubai and has not missed a beat. Ottensen Gray won the event in a time of 56.47.

The Danish swimmer took the first 50 meters out in a time of 26.31, over a second ahead of Katinka Hosszu who turned in a time of 27.34. Hosszu made a late charge in the final second half of the race, but did not have enough to catch Ottesen Gray, finishing second in a time of 56.87, collecting her second medal of the evening.

Li Tao of Singapore finished third in a time of 57.23.

Men’s 100 backstroke

American Tom Shields took the men’s 100 backstroke in a life time best time of 50.15, a second and a half faster than his previous best of 51.61, which he recorded in 2012. Shields beat Australian Robert Hurley who had won the event in both Berlin and Moscow.

Hurley finished second in a time of 50.34 followed by Radoslaw Kawecki of Poland who touched third in a time of 51.04.

 Women’s 50 backstroke

Alexsandra Urbanczyk of Poland took the sprint backstroke event in a time of 26.70. Australian Emily Seebohm finished second in a time of 26.93.

Katinka Hosszu made it close, but got back on the medal podium for the third time this evening tying Daryna Zevina of the Ukraine with a time of 27.13.

Men’s 200 butterfly

South African Chad le Clos, who is currently the leader in the World Cup standings, won his first race of the evening in his signature race. le Clos took the 200 butterfly in a time of 1:49.07 just missing his own world record of 1:49.04, which he set in Eindhoven.

Chad le Clos (photo credit: Victor Puig, victorpuig.com)

le Clos swam the race aggressively turning at the half way point 35 one-hundredths of a second ahead of his world record pace, but was not able to match the second 100 meters that he put up in August.

Dubai – 24.69/53.10/1:21.39/1:49.07

Eindhoven (world record) – 24.88/53.45/1:21.31/1:49.04

Pawel Korzeniowski of Poland challenged le Clos in the first 100 meters, but did not have enough to stay with him through the final half of the race finishing second in a time of 1:51.26.

Frederico Veloso de Castro of Brazil finished third in a time of 1:54.91.

Women’s 200 IM

Katinka Hosszu won her second event and her fourth medal of the evening taking the women’s 200 IM in a time of 2:06.58. Unlike her earlier races Hosszu did not have to make a second half comeback as she lead the race from start to finish.

Australian Emily Seebohm won her second silver medal of the evening finishing second in a time of 2:08.43 just ahead of Hungarian Evelyn Verraszto who finished third posting a time of 2:08.85.

Men’s 400 freestyle

Earlier in the evening Robert Hurley lost out to Tom Shields in the 100 backstroke, but he was not going to let that happen again. Hurley took the men’s 400 freestyle in a lifetime best time of 3:40.24.

South African Devon Brown finished second in a time of 3:41.84 followed by Danish swimmer Mads Glaesner who finished third recording a time of 3:42.35.

Women’s 50 freestyle

Only a day after it was announced that her coach, Jacco Verhaeren, was leaving for Australia, Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands returned to the pool winning the women’s 50 freestyle in a time of 24.02. Kromowidjojo has won the event at three of the four World Cup stops, setting a new world record of 23.24 in Eindhoven.

Dorothea Brandt of Germany finished second in a time of 24.34. Jeanette Ottesen Gray picked up her second medal of the evening taking the bronze in a time of 24.47.

Men’s 200 breaststroke

After finishing third in Eindhoven and Berlin then second in Moscow Olympic silver medalist Michael Jamieson of Great Britain finally ended up standing on the top of the podium winning the 200 breaststroke in Dubai in a time of 2:06.68.

Tomas Klobucnik of Slovakia finished well behind touching in a time of 2:08.38 followed by Russian Mikhail Dorinov who finished third in a time of 2:09.93.

Men’s 100 IM

The three men standing on the podium in Dubai were the same three men on the podium in Moscow for the 100 IM, this time in a slightly different order. Australian Kenneth To has been bettered by Vlad Morozov for much of the World Cup series, including tonight’s 100 freestyle, but that was not the case in the 100 IM as To took the event in a time of 51.64.

Morozov finished second in a time of 51.76 followed by George Bovell III of Trinidad and Tobago who finished third in a time of 52.38.

Women’s 200 backstroke

After sweeping the backstroke events in Moscow Daryna Zevina of the Ukraine show her displeasure of finishing third in the 50 backstroke earlier in the evening by destroying her competition in the 200 backstroke taking the event in a time of 2:01.66 over three seconds ahead of Australian Emily Seebohm who finished second in a time of 2:05.04.

Katinka Hosszu finished third in a time of 2:05.42 preventing World Championships silver medalist Australian Belinda Hocking from gaining a spot on the podium. Hosszu finished three one-hundredths of a second ahead of Hocking who finished fourth in a time of 2:05.45.

Men’s 50 butterfly

Just as he did in Moscow Roland Schoeman kept his fellow countryman Chad le Clos from finishing in the top spot in the 50 butterfly, but this time by the narrowest of margins. Schoeman took the event in a time of 22.27 one one-hundredths of a second ahead of le Clos who finished second in a time of 22.28.

American Tom Shields collected his second medal of the evening finishing third in a time of 23.02.

4 x 50 Mixed Medley Relay

Now that the world records for the mixed relays have been set a reasonable it will be interesting to see how quickly they are surpassed, something that did not happen on the first night in Dubai. The Australian team made up of Robert Hurley (23.54), Kenneth To (26.86), Belinda Hocking (25.51) and Emily Seebohm (24.40) took the event in a time of 1:42.31 missing the world record of 1:41.70 set by the Russians in Moscow.

The Japanese finished second in a time of 1:43.15 followed by the Chinese who posted a time of 1:44.15.

Full results can be found here