2014 Dubai World Cup: two world records for Hungarians on day 1

The 2014 FINA World Cup just keeps charging on, with its second of seven events to take place Sunday and Monday in Dubai of the United Arab Emirates.

Katinka Hosszu and Chad le Clos are in control early, leading the points as they both try to repeat as World Cup series champs.

The Dubai stop wraps up the first “cluster” of the World Cup series, with extra monetary bonuses in line for the overall points winners of the cluster. The first cluster includes the Doha and Dubai stops of the circuit.

Stay tuned and keep refreshing this page for event-by-event updates of all the action from Dubai.

2014 Dubai World Cup

• World Cup Points (post-Doha)
• World Cup money earners (post-Doha)
• Start lists for Dubai
• Live stream
• Live results

Women’s 800 Free

Spain’s Mireia Belmonte Garcia kicked things off on a good note, winning the opening event of the Dubai World Cup. Belmonte, the world record-holder in the 800 free, went 8:04.88 to win by a full 19 seconds over a small, four-person field.

Julia Hassler of Liechtenstein was second at 8:24.07, and from there, things really dropped off to Michee Van Rouyen at 8:57.25 for the third-place check.

Men’s 400 IM

Current point standings runner-up Thomas Fraser-Holmes added to his total with a win in the men’s 400 IM. Fraser-Holmes, who won four events in Doha, went 3:58.69 to add 12 points to his total. That pushes him ahead of series leader Chad le Clos, at least momentarily.

Hungary’s David Verraszto, the European champ, was second in 4:02.52, and third-place honors went to Tunisia’s Ous Mellouli at 4:09.09.

Men’s 100 Free

Le Clos fired right back in the points, though, winning the very next event to take his lead back. The South African went 46.24 to outswim the sprint field and win his second 100 free of the circuit and his fourth event overall.

Second was Germany’s Steffen Deibler at 46.85. Poland’s Konrad Czerniak just beat out Le Clos’ South African teammate Leith Shankland 47.17 to 47.30 for the final prize check in the event.

Women’s 200 Free

The first appearance for overall points leader Katinka Hosszu tonight was golden. Hosszu went 1:52.25, almost a second slower than she was in prelims, but still won handily. Hosszu, in range of 4 different world records tonight, will probably have to pick her spots a little in trying to maximize her prize money, and here she did just enough to win.

Austria’s Lisa Zaiser went 1:54.44 for second, and third went to Evelyn Verraszto at 1:55.55. As we’ve seen a lot on this series, things really dropped off right after the prize money slots ended, with the rest of the field above two minutes.

Men’s 50 Breast

Make it two men’s races in a row for the South Africans, as veteran Roland Schoeman won the 50 breast. The 34-year-old sprinter went 26.16 to lead the way and earn the $1500 prize.

Second went to Italy’s Fabio Scozzoli at 26.37, beating American Cody Miller by just .01 for silver. Miller was 26.38 with Russian Andrei Nikolaev in fourth.

Women’s 100 Breast

Alia Atkinson of Jamaica swept the 50 and 100 breaststrokes in Doha, and she’s now on her way to doing the same in Dubai. Atkinson went 1:03.26 to win the women’s 100, beating Breeja Larson of the U.S.

Larson was one of two American swimmers to earn money in this race; her 1:04.85 came in ahead of Laura Sogar‘s 1:06.93 as the pair went 2-3.

Women’s 100 Fly

Inge Dekker is the chief challenger to Katinka Hosszu in the points right now, and she won her fifth event of the young series in the women’s 100 fly. At 56.03, the Dutch sprint star topped the field by nearly a second and a half.

Second-place honors went to Australia’s Marieke D’Cruz at 57.45, and Franziska Hentke of Germany took the final prize money bundle, beating out Switzerland’s Danielle Villars 58.09 to 58.18.

Men’s 100 Back

The closest race so far was the men’s 100 back, where Germany’s Christian Diener battled with the U.S.’s Eugene Godsoe. Godsoe, a sprint specialist, led at the 50, but ultimately, it was Diener who got to the finish first at 50.10. Godsoe was just four one-hundredths back at 50.14 for silver.

Third place was Australia’s Ashley Delaney at 51.11, about a half-second ahead of his countryman Bobby Hurley.

Women’s 50 Back

A second race and a second win for Katinka Hosszu, the Hungarian who never seems to tire out. Hosszu went 26.10 to win the 50 back, a race so short it basically amounts to a walk in the park for Hosszu. She was three tenths up on Ukraine’s Daryna Zevina (26.45) and six tenths ahead of Poland’s Aleksandra Urbanczyk.

Making an interesting appearance in this race was Jamaican 100 breast champ Alia Atkinson, who went 27.52 to just miss the medals.

Men’s 200 Fly

Tom Shields won this race for the second World Cup event straight, just missing the American record he set in Doha. Shields was 1:50.19; his national mark is 1:50.08 set earlier in the week.

That was an easy win for Shields, though, with no Chad le Clos in the race once again. Pawel Korzeniowski of Poland was second in 1:51.64.

Russian Nikolay Svortsov wound up third in 1:52.10 ahead of his countryman Aleksandr Kudashev.

Women’s 200 IM

It only took until her third event of finals for Katinka Hosszu to break through with another world record. The Hungarian broke the 200 IM mark for the second time in a week, picking up the $10,000 bonus that comes along with world records on the World Cup circuit. Hosszu was 2:02.13, a half second faster than she was in Doha.

That also puts Hosszu in the driver’s seat for the best performance of the meet in FINA points, which carries a 24 point bonus in the points standings along with it.

Second place went to American Caitlin Leverenz at 2:06.76, and the final money-earner was Lisa Zaiser of Austria at 2:07.30.

Men’s 400 Free

Australian Thomas Fraser-Holmes got his second win of the session, and it was a tight one. He went 3:38.22 to just eke out the win over Serbia’s European Championships star Velimir Stjepanovic. Stjepanovic was 3:38.32 to wind up second after leading the first 250 meters.

Tunisia’s Ahmed Mathlouthi took third place at 3:41.43.

Women’s 50 Free

Make it two wins on the day for the Netherlands’ Inge Dekker, too. Dekker went 23.95 to win the women’s 50 free, an event she also won in Doha.

Dekker was the clear-cut winner, with a battle for second behind her. Marieke D’Cruz of Australia won that collision, going 24.36, and third went to Poland’s Aleksandra Urbanczyk at 24.51.

Men’s 200 Breast

The second World Record of the meet came courtesy of another Hungarian, breaststroker Daniel Gyurta. Gyurta won his signature race, the 200 breast, breaking his own world record with a 2:00.48. His old mark was 2:00.67 set back in 2009.

Gyurta looks already back to his top-notch form after skipping the 200 breast at European Championships, putting up the fastest short course meters swim in history.

Second place, as he was in Doha, was Germany’s Marco Koch at 2:01.28. That’s another big swim, which could potentially earn Koch bonus points for one of the top three performances of the meet. Koch’s 200 breast was the third overall FINA point swim in Doha.

Japan’s Yakuhiro Takahashi took third place, going 2:05.00 as the top two completely checked out from the field.

Men’s 100 IM

Trinidad & Tobago got on the board in the men’s 100 IM, with national star George Bovell going 51.79 on the strength of a big back-half. American Tom Shields led the field at the 50-mark and wound up second overall in 52.14, just unable to hold off Bovell on the final length.

Third place went to another American, Cody Miller, at 52.46.

Women’s 200 Back

Katinka Hosszu got another win in her fourth swim of the evening, going 2:01.17 to win the 200 back. That’s a few tenths off her prelims time, and doesn’t quite challenge Missy Franklin‘s world record in the event, but it’s still another $1,500 paycheck for Hosszu plus more points to her already world-leading points total.

Daryna Zevina of the Ukraine took second, going 2:03.76, with Colombia’s Carolina Colorado going 2:06.96 for third place.

Men’s 50 Fly

After skipping the event in Doha, Chad le Clos did elect to swim the 50 fly in Dubai, and it wound up giving him his second win of the day. Le Clos went 22.02 to win easily, by a half-second over the field.

American Tom Shields, who won this event in Doha, tied for second place with the 50 breast champ Roland Schoeman at 22.51. They’ll share the second and third place prize money, plus the series points in the event, by virtue of beating out Belarus’s Yauhen Tsurkin by a tenth.

Mixed 4×50 Medley Relay

With just four teams entering the mixed relay and one of them disqualifying, the final race of the meet was a bit of a dud, excitement-wise. Austria picked up the win, going 1:46.03 to finish first by nearly two seconds. That team was Bernard Reitshammer, Lisa Zaiser, Sacha Zubarsky and Lena Kreundl, with all four putting up the fastest splits for their respective strokes and genders.

China was second at 1:47.98, with the third-place team from Syria finishing back at 1:55.83.

No prize money or series points are awarded for the mixed relays, which explains their generally lackluster entry numbers. South Africa was the fourth team, but disqualified on the breast-to-fly exchange.