2018 FINA WORLD CUP – DOHA
- Thursday, September 13th – Saturday, September 15th
- Hamad Aquatic Centre (HAC), Aspire Zone, Doha, Qatar
- Heats at 10am local/Finals at 6pm local
- LCM
- Entry Lists
- SwimSwam Preview
- Day 1 Prelims Recap
- Results
With only 5 prelims races having taken place this morning in Doha due to low competitor turnouts, spectators were treated to the entire schedule this evening. That meant stars such as Mitch Larkin of Australia, Katinka Hosszu of Hungary and Michael Andrew of America would be taking to the Hamad Aquatic Centre (HAC) pool, hoping to add more cash to their pockets and points to their World Cup standings.
Hungary’s ‘Iron Lady’ Hosszu raced just once this morning, taking the 7th seed in the women’s 50m free. Tonight, however, she kicked off her Doha campaign with a win in the 400m freestyle. Clocking 4:10.02, Hosszu beat out runner-up Femke Heemskerk of Netherlands, who notched 4:12.56 for silver, while China’s Zhou Chanzhen rounded out the top 3 with a mark of 4:13.62.
Hosszu had taken his race on at the first stop in Kazan, where the multiple Olympic champion produced a slower 4:12.09 while still topping the podium. As for Heemskerk, the 200m freestyle ace rarely races this 400m distance, with a personal best of 4:09.13 logged way back in 2011, although she did swim the event twice in 2017.
Heemskerk’s countrymate Kira Toussaint continued to display her prowess in the women’s 50m backstroke, following up her Kazan victory with another win in the event here tonight. The 24-year-old won the race in Kazan in 28.18 and shaved .17 off of that result to collect a winning effort of 28.01 here.
Somewhat surprisingly behind Toussaint was freestyle and butterfly sprinter Ranomi Kromowidjojo, who has been racing this ‘off’ event with more frequency as of late. Kromo busted out a mark of 28.49 to establish a new personal best in the event and smash her time of 28.83 from Kazan by .34. That left Hosszu, racing in her 2nd swim of the night, to settle for bronze in 28.57.
The Iron Lady was barely out of the pool when she re-entered to take on the women’s 200m butterfly field, although she only had to beat 1 other swimmer to land on the podium. Amid a field of just 4 competitors, with 1 disqualified in tonight’s final, Hosszu cruised to first place in a solid 2:09.26. Hungarian teammate Zsuzsanna Jakabos made it a 1-2 punch with a time of 2:10.34 for silver.
Andrew continued his 100m fly winning streak, taking tonight’s race in a mark of 51.83. Splitting 23.92/27.90, Andrew was a tad faster than the 51.96 he registered last week in Kazan to beat South African talent Chad Le Clos. For his part, Le Clos was slated to swim this race, but pulled out of this morning’s prelims due to illness. Andrew’s time this evening checks-in as the 19-year-old’s 3rd fastest of his career, coming only behind his 51.53 from Pan Pacs and 51.68 from U.S. Nationals.
Despite Le Clos’ absence, a South African still landed on the podium, as Ryan Coetzee clinched the runner-up position in a mark of 52.20, just .10 off of the 52.10 personal best he notched in Kazan. Dutchman Matthys Goosen was also under the 53-second threshold with a time of 52.99.
Lone Brazilian competitor Felipe Lima took tonight’s 100m breaststroke in a race that saw the top 3 finishers dip under the minute barrier. Touching in 59.61, Lima upgraded his silver result from Kazan and cranked out the 2nd fastest time of his career. The 33-year-old was only faster in Budapest at last year’s World Championships, where his semi-final effort of 59.48 rendered Lima in 10th place overall.
Finishing behind the Brazilian this evening were Arno Kamminga of Netherlands and Russia’s Anton Chupkov, who produced efforts of 59.74 and 59.89, respectively.
Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom cracked a new World Cup Record in the women’s 50m freestyle last week in Kazan, clocking a monster effort of 23.83. She wasn’t too far off that mark this evening, crushing a 23.99 to take the gold in the 21st fastest performance of all-time.
Heemskerk racked up her 2nd medal of the evening with a 24.54 worthy of silver, while Kromo also collected another piece of hardware with a bronze medal garnering-effort of 24.62. Hosszu was back in the pool for her 4th race, but fell to 8th in 26.41.
To finish up the evening, Russia’s Vladimir Morozov topped the men’s 50m freestyle field, finishing in 21.80 for the win. Andrew hit the wall narrowly behind in 21.95, just .03 slower than his morning prelim effort of 21.92. Bronze tonight went to teammate Pieroni of the U.S. who stopped the clock in 22.17, that fastest time of his career by .05.
Additional Winners:
- Pieroni of the United States clocked 3:53.98 to win the men’s 400m freestyle tonight. He was the 200m freestyle winner 100m freestyle runner-up at the first stop in Kazan.
- The men’s 200m back saw Larkin easily take the gold in a time of 1:57.45 to make this his 4th World Cup medal through Kazan and Day 1 Doha. He was the only swimmer tonight to clock a time under 2:02.
- Russia’s breaststroking machine Yuliya Efimova would not be denied tonight, as the triple winner from the 1st stop in Kazan won tonight’s 200m distance in a time of 2:23.55.
this meat is a joke
I don’t know what Sarah Sjostrom is thinking about. Her level of laziness matches only her extreme talent. Why not to swim this 400 free against the bunch of old ladies ( Hosszu – 29, Jacobos – 29, Heemskerk – 31) and breaststroke specialist like Simonova?
Oh, maybe it isn’t a laziness but a feeling of self respect. It isn’t true that money does not stink.
This W200BU is an embarrassment. In order to be paid prize money a swimmer has to just show up. I think that in order to maintain some prestige the administration of World (think about meaning of this word) Cup should cancel the event if there are no enough swimmers to make final race.
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The World Cup generally is an embarassment, not just specific events. Year after year there are sparse fields, weak times, lack of interest in the media and from sports fans except die-hard swimming fans ……. FINA has been trying for years to beef up this event all to no avail. FINA just isn’t up to the job of taking the sport of swimming further. Serious consideration has to be given to ditching the World Cup altogether and putting the resources elsewhere because swimming is not a rich sport and to pay this kind of prizemoney when the competition is so lacklustre is plain wrong.
A just as good question is where all those super poor swimmers are, instead of earning a pay cheque? Afraid of doping tests in between the global championships?
Sjostrom made $371k last season. 25 swimmers made over $10k, many of them only competing in one cluster. Not bad for a few weeks or a few months work when swimming is otherwise dead.
Its expensive to fly to Doha from the states not to mention hotel and other costs. Then you have to swim fast with jet lag to earn the prize money. I can see why most swimmers dont go. I can see a lot of swimmers not making money unless they get subsidized like Peironi.
AGREED! Dressel is back home doping.
Honestly, Le Clos may have just lost the overall points race for the entire series by missing just the 100 fly tonight. It’s early days but all contenders need as many points as possible because MA has so many races to rack up points. Day 1 in Doha: MA = a 1st and 2nd, Morosov = one 1st place, Le Clos = no points… Even if Le Clos was healthy, and making races, I don’t see him outscoring MA’s versatility. I think we will see MA start to pull away in the overall points race starting now in Doha. If he stays healthy, that gap should grow through the series.
MA is less dominant in SCM I reckon. Even Vlad has 1.4 on him in 100 IM. Doesnt have enough power yet
That 1.4 second advantage seemed to FAIL Vlad at the last Short Course Worlds when Andrew took gold!!!
I agree. Watching him swim the 100fly he seemed to pop up real quickly off the turn
I think Le Clos still has the advantage, actually. Vlad and MA are very similar archetypes: fantastic at all 50s + some 100s (MA better at the 100fly/br where Vladdy has the 100 free/IM, and back is up in the air with only 0.15s between their bests). This means they’re going to be splitting points all series long, one always settling for second.
Le Clos is just as versatile, but in a rangier way. He’ll clash with them a bit in the 50/100 fly and 50/100 free, but he’s also got PBs well ahead of those two in the 200 fly, 200 free, 200 IM, and 400 IM. There aren’t too many people who can really hang with him in… Read more »
You only count three results per meet, 12p(9-6) for a win. And the top time(FINA Points wise) of each meet equals two wins, 24p(18-12). So you’re able to make up deficits as the season progresses. Being versatile basically only means you get more chances to reach the maximum points in a meet which is 60p(unless you break a WR, too).
But with this format it’s actually better to be great in two events than being decent/good in three or more. If you win two events and crank out the best FINA points, that’s 12+12+24=48. If you win two events, get one second place and the third best FINA points, that’s 12+12+10+12=46.
So if you win more than others, you’ll get more points. That’s what MA is doing.
I am 33 years old, and resigned to the fact that I will probably never swim within 5 seconds of my lifetime best again. How someone like Felipe Lima can crank out the 2nd fastest time of his career right now is just beyond me. Good for him!
You’d be surprised by what you can do in Masters – with a fraction of the training you did in college. Give it a try!
i have buddies in their mid 30s going national/trial cuts and best times. just believe!
I’ve gone SCY lifetime bests as a Masters swimmer in my 30s in the 50 fly and 50/100/200 breast, am within .2 of my lifetime bests in the 50/100 free, and expect to hit lifetime bests this season in the 50/100 free and possibly the 200 free.
Sure, some of my agegroup PRs in what were my better events back in the day like the 200 fly and 400 IM, uh, might be safe, but anything besides those two events I’d say is fair game for me to at least come close to if not beat.
I’m guessing MA’s next full rest will be SCWC. Next time he swims it fully rested LCM he’ll be sub 51. I really believe now he’ll be the one joining Dressel in Tokyo for the 100 fly. How many events would he have to make in 2020 for it to be considered a success? IMO the answer is one. I know others have different standards though.
Making the Olympic Team in even 1 event, even as an alternate in a relay, is the definition of success. Cordes and Miller didn’t make a team for this year or next. USA Swimming is mind-numbingly competitive.
Congratulations to you ’25 FREE CHAMP’. As of 2:35pm there is no a single down vote. Probably the hurricane Florance has something to do with that keeping people busy.
The 100 fly pool will be tough don’t count out jack saunderson and conger
What a legend
sarcastic or genuine comment?
Can we rest the word legend for a while….