2018 FINA World Cup Eindhoven Day 2 Finals: Sjostrom Strikes Twice

2018 FINA WORLD CUP – EINDHOVEN

• Friday, September 28th – Sunday – September 30th
• SCM
• Cluster 1 Results
• Entry List
• SwimSwam Meet Preview
• Day 1 Prelims Recap/Day 1 Finals Recap
• Day 2 Prelims Recap
• Results

After an uncharacteristic loss in the women’s 50m freestyle on day 1, Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom bounced back with two solid wins on night 2 of the World Cup in Eindhoven.

The multi-Olympic medalist first produced a winning mark of 1:52.25 in the women’s 200m free, holding off a charging Femke Heemskerk of Netherlands who touched in 1:52.98. Yesterday’s 400m freestyle winner in a new World Junior Record time, Wang Jianjiahe of China, took the bronze in tonight’s 200m in 1:53.40.

Also in the women’s 200m free race was America Melanie Margalis who finished in 4th in 1:54.30, while her teammate and Olympic silver medalist Leah Smith settled for 7th in 1:56.37. Sweden’s Michelle Coleman, who is racing for the first time in 7 months, followed up her 9th place 50m freestyle finish with another respectable outing of 1:54.85 in this 200 for 5th place.

25-year-old Sjostrom’s next victim tonight was the 50m fly, where the world record holder topped the podium in 24.61. Finishing just .06 behind, however, was yesterday’s 50m freestyle victor Ranomi Kromowidjojo of Netherlands. She finished in 24.67 for silver tonight as the only other swimmer under the 25-second threshold.

USA’s Kelsi Dahlia earned her 2nd medal of the meet, taking bronze tonight in this 50m fly in 25.14. She won the same prize last night in the 200m fly. Belgium’s Kimberly Buys finished off the podium in 4th, but established another national record, her 2nd of the meet, touching in 25.41.

World Cup mainstay and multiple series winner Katinka Hosszu made her presence known in her pet 400m IM event this evening. The Hungarian mustered an effort of 4:25.15 to take the gold, with Japanese rival Yui Ohashi touched in 4:27.42 for silver. It was China’s Zhou Min who rounded out the top 3 in her mark of 4:30.26.

Of note, reigning world record holder in the event, Mireia Belmonte of Spain, appeared off her game tonight, finishing in a mark of 4:36.27 for 7th. That’s well off her 4:18.94 produced in this same city to clinch the world record last year. Also of note was the fact that Hosszu’s teammate, Zsuzsanna Jakabos, was disqualified in tonight’s final.

Hosszu also made the podium in the women’s 100m back event, but was downgraded to bronze behind American Kathleen Baker and Australian Emily Seebohm. Baker, the reigning world record holder in the 100 long course meter backstroke event, won in 55.91, while Seebohm cruised to 2nd in 56.07. Hosszu followed in 56.32.

Olympic medalist Daiya Seto rattled off a new World Cup Record in the men’s 200m IM this evening, overtaking the old mark of 1:51.27 held by his domestic rival/teammate Kosuke Hagino from 2014. Seto dropped the WC Record down to 1:51.99 to win handily, with the next closest competitor being Ryosuke Irie and his time of 1:55.61. Bronze was clinched by Russian Kirill Prigoda  in 1:55.71.

In the sole relay of the night, Netherlands (1:29.90) took the mixed 4x50m free, with the United States (1:30.88) and Russia (1:31.96) finished in 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

Additional Winners:

• Aussie Mitch Larkin kept his winning streak going in the backstroke events, coming out on top of the men’s 50m tonight. He won in 23.34, just .08 ahead of newly-minted 100m IM world record holder Vlad Morozov of Russia (23.42). Japan’s Kosuke Matsui held off USA’s Michael Andrew to take 3rd in 23.57.
• Morozov also took the men’s 100m free tonight in 45.69, while America’s Blake Pieroni settled for silver over half a second behind in 46.45.
• Azerbaijan got on the board, courtesy of freestyle ace Maksym Shemberev‘s performance in the men’s 1500m this evening. He easily won in a mark of 14:45.17.
• Felipe Lima of Brazil was tonight’s 50m breaststroke winner, with the Olympian finishing in 25.92 for the gold.
• The women’s 100m breaststroke race saw Russian speedster Yuliya Efimova top the podium in a quick 1:03.41. Reigning short course world record holder Alia Atkinson of Jamaica was also under 1:04, hitting the wall at 1:03.74 for silver, while American Molly Hannis rounded out the top 3 in 1:05.65.
• Looking to gain points ground after his illness in cluster #2, South African Chad Le Clos fired off a winning time of 1:51.09 in the men’s 200m fly. He battled with Japan’s Yuya Yajima, who touched in 1:51.87 to represent just the 2 swimmers who ventured into sub-1:53 second territory in the race.