FINA CHAMPIONS SWIM SERIES 2019 #2 – BUDAPEST
- May 11-12, 2019
- Budapest, Hungary
- LCM (50m)
- 8 pm local / 2pm ET start
- FINA Champions Series Info
- Entry List
- Live Stream (Olympic Channel) – May 12th
- Live Stream (FINA TV)
- Live Results (Omega)
Day 2 of the Budapest stop of the FINA Champions Series will feature swims from WR-holders Sarah Sjöström, Federica Pellegrini, Kliment Kolesnikov, and Katinka Hosszu, among many of the world’s other top swimmers.
Men’s 400 Free
- Danas Rapsys (Lithuania) – 3:43.36
- Mykhailo Romanchuk (Ukraine) – 3:47.08
- Aleksandr Krasnykh (Russia) – 3:47.85
- Peter Bernek (Hungary) – 3:56.40
Danas Rapsys was out incredibly fast, going 1:50.20 to the feet at the halfway mark. He was ahead of WR pace for 250 meters before falling a bit behind. Rapsys won this race by several body lengths, touching in 3:43.36, breaking his own Lithuanian record by more than three full seconds. That ties him with Italy’s Gabriele Detti for the #2 time in the world this season.
Mykhailo Romanchuk of Ukraine and Aleksandr Krasnykh of Russia were both 3:47’s, with Romanchuk edging Krasnykh at the wall.
Women’s 200 Fly
- Katinka Hosszu (Hungary) – 2:06.62
- Franziska Hentke (Germany) – 2:07.31
- Boglarka Kapas (Hungary) – 2:07.67
- Alys Thomas (GBR) – 2:08.52
A deafening crowd behind her, Katinka Hosszu swam a very powerful race, executing a surge over the back 100 to take the win there. She moves to #2 in the world rankings behind Franziska Hentke‘s 2:06.50 from November. Hentke took 2nd in 2:07.31, and Boglarka Kapas, who was in 4th place at the first three walls, moved into third over the final 50 to finish in third (2:07.67).
Men’s 100 Fly
- Chad le Clos – 51.25
- Kristof Milak – 51.67
- Laszlo Cseh – 52.20
- Piero Codia – 52.22
Another race with a big Hungarian presence, Chad le Clos of South Africa denied the win from Kristof Milak. The 200 fly winner from yesterday, Milak, gained some ground over the final 20-30 meters, but le Clos was too strong, hitting the wall at 51.25. Milak was also under 52 seconds with a 51.67.
Le Clos moves to #3 in the world rankings with that swim.
Women’s 50 Free
- Sarah Sjöström (Sweden) – 23.97
- Pernille Blume (Denmark) – 24.52
- Etiene Medeiros (Brazil) – 24.85
- Farida Osman (Egypt) – 25.12
Sarah Sjöström, making it look easy, dipped under 24 seconds with her win tonight in the 50 free. Her time, 23.97, is just .06 off of her world-leading season best from April.
Pernille Blume, the reigning Olympic champion, looked to have had a late start off the blocks. A costly mistake, she was well back after her underwater and was in second at 24.52. Brazil’s Etiene Medeiros also broke 25 seconds, posting a 24.85.
Men’s 200 Breast
- Anton Chupkov (Russia) – 2:08.23
- Ippei Watanabe (Japan) – 2:08.61
- Dmitriy Balandin (Kazakhstan) – 2:10.73
- Josh Prenot (USA) – 2:11.60
This was a two-man race between Japan’s Ippei Watanabe and Russia’s Anton Chupkov. Chupkov hit the wall first in 2:08.23, just ahead of Watanabe’s 2:08.61. Chupkov holds the world #1 time at 2:07.00, with Watanabe right behind in 2:07.02. Both were well off of those marks tonight, and were the only swimmers under 2:10.
Women’s 100 Back
- Katinka Hosszu (Hungary) – 59.58
- Anastasia Fesikova (Russia) – 59.73
- Emily Seebohm (Australia) – 1:00.44
- Georgia Davies (GBR) – 1:00.95
Katinka Hosszu of Hungary grabbed her second win of the night in 59.58, improving upon her season best of 59.95 from the Stockholm Open in April. She moves up to #7 in the world rankings this season. Russia’s Anastasia Fesikova also broke a minute, going 59.73, entering the world top 25 at #11.
Men’s 200 Back
- Evgeny Rylov (Russia) – 1:55.92
- Jacob Pebley (USA) – 1:56.67
- Xu Jiayu (China) – 1:59.74
- Danas Rapsys (Lithuania) – 2:04.96
Evgeny Rylov took his second backstroke win of the weekend after taking the 100 back yesterday. He was 1:55.92, ahead of USA’s Jacob Pebley (1:56.67). Pebley won’t move up the world rankings with that swim, but he takes a few tenths off of his season best.
China’s Xu Jiayu looked like he was taking a bath and still claimed third at 1:59.74, well off of his #2 world-ranked time of 1:55.24. Xu was also well off his times in the 100 back last night.
Women’s 50 Fly
- Sarah Sjöström (Sweden) – 25.32
- Farida Osman (Egypt) – 25.90
- Penny Oleksiak (Canada) – 26.04
- Pernille Blume (Denmark) – 26.91
Sarah Sjöström took her second event win of the night, clocking a 25.32 to shave two hundredths off of her world-leading time of 25.34. Also breaking 26 seconds was Farida Osman of Egypt (25.90), with Canada’s Penny Oleksiak third in 26.04 — both women were a touch off of their season bests.
Men’s 100 Free
- Pieter Timmers (Belgium) – 48.32
- Mehdy Metella (France) – 48.62
- Vladimir Morozov (Russia) – 49.03
- Kliment Kolesnikov (Russia) – 49.07
Belgium’s Pieter Timmers took the men’s 100 free in 48.32, edging out France’s Mehdy Metella (48.62).
The Russians fell to third and fourth, with Vladimir Morozov in third at 49.03 and Kliment Kolesnikov fourth in 49.07.
Timmers improves his 48.60 season best, while the Russians were about a second off of the 48.04 time they both have gone which ties them for #5 in the world this year.
Women’s 200 IM
- Katinka Hosszu (Hungary) – 2:08.81
- Seoyeong Kim (South Korea) – 2:09.97
- Siobhan O’Connor (GBR) – 2:11.36
- Zsuzsanna Jakabos (Hungary) – 2:14.12
3-for-3 for Katinka Hosszu, who won the 200 IM with a 2:08.81. Just off of her season best, that was a very solid swim for Hosszu as we will soon turn our attention to the 2019 World Championships.
Seoyeong Kim of South Korea had a strong swim, too, clocking a 2:09.97 to break 2:10 and improve upon her 2:10.35 old season best from the Guangzhou stop of the FINA Champions Series.
Men’s 50 Breast
- Joao Gomes Jr. (Brazil) – 26.64
- Felipe Lima (Brazil) – 26.86
- Michael Andrew (USA) – 27.10
- Fabio Scozzoli (Italy) – 27.14
Joao Gomes Jr, the world leader, led a Brazilian 1-2 finish in the 50 breast. Gomes was 26.64, with Felipe Lima also breaking 27 at 26.86. Gomes and Lipa went 26.42 and 26.48 at the 2019 Brazil Trophy last month, and those times still sit #1 and #2 in the world, respectively.
Michael Andrew, in his only individual event of the day, was 27.10 for third.
Women’s 100 Breast
- Yulia Efimova (Russia) – 1:05.99
- Katie Meili (USA) – 1:07.28
- Molly Hannis (USA) – 1:07.66
- Siobhan O’Connor (GBR) – 1:12.84
Yulia Efimova of Russia completed the breaststroke sweep, taking this race in 1:05.99. That’s almost a second drop from her season best, and she claims the world #1 time with that swim.
Americans Katie Meili (1:07.28) and Molly Hannis (1:07.66) were 2nd and 3rd, cracking the top 25 at #15 and #25, respectively. O’Connor, just minutes after the 200 IM, wavered in this race and sunk to fourth in 1:12.84.
Men’s 50 Back
- Justin Ress (USA) – 24.68
- Matt Grevers (USA) – 24.88
- Robert Glinta (Romania) – 24.95
- Kliment Kolesnikov (Russia) – 25.06
Justin Ress waited all the way until the very end of day 2 to have an individual swim, and he celebrated with a win. Ress was 24.68, the only American winner of the day, with Matt Grevers also looking great right behind him in 24.88.
Ress and Grevers move to 5th and 7th in the world rankings, with Ress just .02 behind Michael Andrew.
Women’s 200 Free
- Sarah Sjöström (Sweden) – 1:56.58
- Federica Pellegrini (Italy) – 1:57.09
- Veronika Andrusenko (Russia) – 1:58.04
- Li Bingjie (China) – 1:59.26
Biding her time, Sjöström added her third win of the day with a come-from-behind victory in the 200 free over defending World Champion Federica Pellegrini. Both were off of their season bests but still put down solid times, Sjöström won in 1:56.58, just ahead of Pellegrini (1:57.09).
Sjöström will have to go right into the 400 mixed medley relay coming up next.
Mixed 400 Medley Relay
- Team 3 (Fesikova/Meili/Andrew/Morozov) – 3:47.40
- Team 4 (Pebley/Clark/Heintz/Sjöström) – 3:47.95
- Team 2 (Seebohm/Balandin/Cseh/Hibbott) – 3:48.43
- Team 1 (Kolesnikov/Gomes/Hentke/Kesely) – 3:50.20
Team 3, made up of Anastasia Fesikova (59.69), Katie Meili (1:07.22), Michael Andrew (51.88), and Vladimir Morozov (48.61) took the win here, with Morozov making up huge ground on the other teams’ female anchors.
Sarah Sjöström out-performed Team 2 and 1’s anchors with a 53.35 split, right after her third individual swim of the day (a 200 free no less), but she couldn’t hold off a charging Morozov.
A couple notable splits were Philip Heintz‘s 51.35 fly split, Dmitry Balandin‘s 59.54 breast split, and Jacob Pebley‘s 53.96 back lead-off for team 4. Pebley took off .03 from his season best of 53.99 from US Winter Nationals last November.
It’s unfair to put Michael Andrew in the pool against good swimmers
For the other swimmers?
What a way to start a pro career for Justin Ress!!
Swimswam published many essays on the issue of summer’s psychology. But it was mostly about swimmer dealing with his/her own problems/obstacles. But what about psychology of rivalry and required commonly accepted norms of sportsmanship.
Today’s races of Sarah Sjostrom let me think about this one more time. I remember Sarah’s behaviour in Kazan where she twice beat prohibitive at that time leader Cate Campbell, but … lost to her little sister. She was so frustrated that her behavior of ignoring completely happy sisters and not even trying to hide her disappointment was close to be unethical and unacceptable. Today we saw two close races that were very tense and not about money at all: Blume vs Sjostrom and Sjostrom… Read more »
Sjostrom and Blume clearly don’t get on going back a while.
So clearly that Blume sacrificed her 100FR final championship race in attempt to bit Sjostrom’s time at 50. It wouldn’t give her anything but personal satisfaction. That’s why I was wondering if such rivalry helps or vice versa has negative effect on swimmer’s performance. From the general point of view I would say that negative emotions (and that is the genuine origin of rivalry) cannot give birth to anything positive. The good example of this point, I think, is King’s and Meilutyte’s attitude toward Efimova’s ignorance. Lilly doesn’t really care. Ruta takes it very personally.
“Ignorance”?
Maybe arrogance would be more fitting
Well Done Timmers !!!!The only Belgiam showing something interesting lately
I really thought you were American. You seem to be always more excited about American swimmers than about Europeans.
That 50 free for Sjostrom, at a non-target meet in the middle of May, ties the American record. Think of the sprinters the USA have churned out over the years and let that sink it.
What a remarkable athlete.
She is something else!
She’s definitely one of the best sprinters of all time, although her Olympic record doesn’t quite reflect her ability. If she can perform to her potential in Tokyo, she will be unstoppable. She should win the 50/100 free, and obviously the 100 fly. If she’s not in peak form, though, the 100 free could have some disruptions. Manuel is insanely clutch and is a threat if Sjostrom isn’t at her best in the final (see Budapest 2017). Who knows what to expect with Cate Campbell, but the raw ability is certainly there.
Cate, Cate, Cate. Personally I think she is the most talented female sprint freestyler of recent generations. If she had her little sisters big race mentality… Man, she’d need a second home to accomodate her gold medals haha.
I remember she came to the US last year for an off-peak meet and broke a couple US Open records like it was nothing. She won her first European title at 14, broke her first World record at 15, and has been on top for the past 10 years. Regardless of what happens in Tokyo, her legend status is assured. She really is something else.
If she could only do it at the Olympics.
Just watched some of the FINA championship swimming on the Olympic Chanel. Sara Sjostrom swam fast and kicked butt. The swimming pool in Budapest looks beautiful.
Thought Chupkov could get a 207 from his 100
The fact that a 2:08 is not considered a great time for him just shows how incredibly good and consistent he is.
Also thought Rylov would be at least 1:54 in 200 back after his 100 back yesterday.
So… sarah sjostrom has the 200 free and then 6 minutes later the mixed relay. Interesting
And she cranked out a 53.35…
That is immense.