2016 FINA World Cup: Le Clos, Morozov Do 50 FR Battle on Moscow Day 2

2016 FINA WORLD CUP MOSCOW

• Saturday, September 3 – Sunday, September 4, 2016
• Olimpiyskiy Swimming Pool, Moscow, Russia
• Short course – 25 m
• Points after Berlin
• Money after Berlin
• Entry Lists
• Live stream
• Live results

Today marked the 2nd day of competition at the 2016 FINA World Cup stop in Moscow, with many of the world’s top swimmers coming together for some SCM racing action. Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu continued her packed event schedule to extend her lead in the overall points standings, while the top 2 points leaders for the men went head to head in the 50 free.

Vlad Morozov and Chad Le Clos, who currently rank 1st and 2nd, respectively, in the men’s points battle, each picked up another gold today. Le Clos won the men’s 100 fly in 49.01, about 6 tenths shy of his own World Record of 48.44 from 2014.

The South African returned to the pool a few events later to give Morozov a run for his money in the 50 free. He came up just short there, as Morozov won his 3rd straight 50 free gold of the World Cup Series, posting a 20.98 for a narrow victory over Le Clos’ 21.05.

On the women’s side, Hosszu brought home 5 medals for the day, 4 of which were gold. Her first win came in the 100 back, where she posted a 56.08 in a close matchup with Ukranian Daryna Zevina (56.74), who she’s been battling in the backstroke events throughout the World Cup Series. She then went on to win the women’s 400 free (4:01.20) before sweeping the women’s IM races with a 57.76 in the 100 IM and a 4:28.32 in the 400 IM.

The Iron Lady also competed in the 100 free and 50 fly, where she placed 2nd and 4th, respectively. Both of those races were won by Denmark’s Jeanette Ottesen, who has now moved into 2nd place in the overall points standings, bumping down Jamaica’s Alia Atkinson.

Ottesen posted a 51.75 second victory in the 100 free to get the session started, and ended her event schedule with a 25.02 to win gold in the 50 fly.

Additional Event Winners:

• Hosszu wasn’t the only Hungarian striking gold today. Her teammate, Zsuzsanna Jakabos, took down the field in the 200 fly, winning with a 2:06.44.
• The women competed in both the 50 and 200 breaststroke events today, which were won by Russia’s Yuliya Efimova. Efimova first clocked a 29.19 in the 50 before winning the 200 in 2:16.54.
• World Record holder Cameron van der Burgh, a 2012 Olympic gold medalist for South Africa, has continuously won gold in the breaststroke sprints during this World Cup Series. Today was no exception, as he raced to victory with a 56.64 in the men’s 100 breast.
• Great Britain’s James Guy stuck with his trend of golds in the middle distance freestyle races, picking up another win in the 200 freestyle here with a time of 1:43.77.
• Aussie Mitch Larkin and Belarusian Pavel Sankovich battled it out in the men’s 50 back, with Sankovich getting his hand on the wall narrowly ahead of Larkin, winning in 23.13. Larkin came back to win a gold of his own, taking the 200 back victory with a 1:48.31.
• Germany’s Philip Heintz found his usual IM success today, winning the men’s 200 IM with a time of 1:52.93. His teammate, Poul Zellmann, also won gold for Germany with a 14:59.78 in the men’s 1500 free.
• The Russian team of Oleg Tikhobaev, Vlad Morozov, Daria Ustinova, and Daria Kartashova came together for a home turf victory in the Mixed 4×50 Free Relay. Morozov split a fast 20.57 on the 2nd leg, helping the team to gold in 1:32.14.