Loading ...The World Cup Series stopped in Stockholm over the weekend and Katinka Hosszu picked up right where she left off in Doha and Dubai. Like the previous stops Hosszu earned 11 thousand dollars bringing her series purse to 33 thousand. On Saturday she won the 800 free in front of Danish Distance star Lotte Friis. Her winning time of 8:24.48 is a personal best by 5 seconds. She went on to win the 200 free in 1:55.30 and the 200 IM in 2:08.13. She also took silver in the 200 backstroke. On Sunday she won the 400 IM in 4:28.01, the 400 free in 4:03.83 and finished 2nd in the 200 fly. That 400 IM time was the top lady’s performance in Stockholm, based on the fina points system, and earned her the maximum of 25 World Cup Points brining her series total to 70, 25 more than anyone else in the field. Olympic Gold medalist Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania posted the fastest time of the year on Saturday winning the 100 breast in 1:05.02. The teenage star followed that up on Sunday with a win in the 50 breast with a time of 29.96. Britta Steffen has been in the mix throughout the series but this past weekend she swept the sprint freestyles winning the 50 on Saturday in 24.08 and carried that momentum into Sunday where she won the 100 in 52.46. On the men’s side George Bovell had a fantastic weekend, winning the 100 IM on Saturday with the 8th fastest performance all time of 51.56. That earned him the maximum World Cup Points of 25 and moved him into third overall in the series point race. He followed that swim up on Sunday with a monster win in the 50 free, clocking a 20.82. Kenneth To still has the most World Cup Points in the men’s standings and earned 20 more for his 2nd place finish behind Bovell in the 100 IM on Saturday. On Sunday To won the 100 fly in 50.19. Daiya Seto sits 2nd right between Bovell and To in the overall race and he put together a terrific 400 IM in Stockholm winning in 4:00.85.
Back here in the states college swimming is in full swing and Breeja Larson of Texas A&M became the first swimmers this seasons to dip under 1 minute in the women’s 100 breast at a tri meet against North Carolina and SEC foe South Carolina. The 2012 Olympic finalist posted a 59.88 in the 100 and went on to win the 200 in 2:10.90. A lot of other teams in action over the weekend and you can read about some of those meets in Braden Keith’s post titled SEC Roundup.
The first of the two Olympians in the senior class of 2013 has made her collegiate choice. Lia Neal will be in Palo Alto next fall swimming for Stanford. The Olympic Gold medalist made her choice last week to swim for the new Cardinal coach Greg Meehan. With the #2 recruit in the country off the table, even more eyes will focus on arguably the top recruit ever, Missy Franklin. This past weekend Franklin was in Austin checking out the University of Texas. Last weekend she was in Athens at the University of Georgia and she visited Cal back in September. She’s scheduled for a visit to USC at the end of the month and then it’s decision time for the swimming superstar. I’m sure she will have plenty of help making the choice, but we want to give you the chance to let Missy know where she should go in SwimSwam’s poll of the week. Which college program would be the best choice for Missy Franklin? Cal, Georgia, Texas, USC, or other.
She is going to swim fast no matter what schools she goes to. She has a ton of options. However, the structure of UGA and UT would go a long way for this young lady. I understand the reasoning for picking a California school — I grew up in the state, but she would really thrive at these other two universities.
Lia Neal won the bronze, not gold
I hope Missy will not end up with Cal. I would like to see more parity in college swimming. I hope she will end up with another school to make NCAA meet more exciting to watch.