Katinka Hosszu Finishes Hong Kong World Cup With 8 Gold Medals

Swimming News Courtesy of FINA. 

Katinka Hosszu (HUN) was the most prolific winner of the third leg of the 2015 FINA/airweave Swimming World Cup, taking place in Hong Kong on September 25-26, by earning eight gold medals. The Magyar star, the “FINA Best Swimmer of the Year 2014”, displayed once more her versatility, collecting gold in the women’s 200m, 400m and 800m free, 200m backstroke, 100m and 200m butterfly, and 200m and 400m individual medley. She was also silver medallist in the 100m free and third in the 50m backstroke.

With these superb performances, she reinforced the lead of the overall ranking (she is the defending champion) of the competition, after three events out of the eight-leg circuit.

Still in the women’s field, Cate Campbell, from Australia, was the best in the 50m and 100m free, while her compatriot Emily Seebohm also earned gold in the 50m and 100m back (in the latter, her winning time of 58.88 was the best performance of the meet, worth 961 FINA points). In the shortest events in breaststroke, Alia Atkinson (JAM) also triumphed twice. The last two victories went to Russia’s Vitalina Simonova in the 200m breaststroke and to Jeanette Ottesen (DEN) in the 50m butterfly.

Among men, there was a wider variety of winners, with several of them also getting “double” victories: in this group, we have Katsumi Nakamura (JPN, 50m and 100m free), Dan Smith (AUS, 200m and 400m free), Masato Sakai (JPN, 1500m free and 200m butterfly), Yuki Shirai (JPN, 100m and 200m backstroke), and Cameron Van der Burgh (RSA, 50m and 100m breaststroke). The South African swimmer obtained the best performance in the men’s competition, with his 50m breast win in 27.23 (939 points) and is also the provisional leader of the overall ranking. Japan and Australia produced additional winners, with Akihiro Yamaguchi dominating the 200m breaststroke, and Ash Delaney (50m back), Tomas Elliot (200m Individual medley) and Nic Brown (100m fly) obtaining more gold for the Aussie delegation.

Geoffrey Cheah (HKG) became the local hero after being the best in the 50m butterfly, while Viacheslav Prudnikov (RUS, shared gold in the 100m fly) and David Verraszto (HUN, 400m IM) completed the list of winners in the Asian leg.

The fourth meet of the 2015 FINA/airweave Swimming World Cup, also counting for the second cluster of the competition, will take place in Beijing (CHN) on September 29-30.

Winners in Hong Kong (HKG):

50m free: Men – Katsumi Nakamura (JPN), 22.15; Women – Cate Campbell (AUS), 24.69
100m free: Men – Katsumi Nakamura (JPN), 49.48; Women – Cate Campbell (AUS), 53.60
200m free: Men – Dan Smith (AUS), 1:48.81; Women – Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 1:55.81
400m free: Men – Dan Smith (AUS), 3:52.68; Women – Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 4:13.93
800m free: Women – Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 8:42.88
1500m free: Men – Masato Sakai (JPN), 15:28.04
50m back: Men – Ash Delaney (AUS), 25.55; Women – Emily Seebohm (AUS), 27.90
100m back: Men – Yuki Shirai (JPN), 54.39; Women – Emily Seebohm (AUS), 58.88
200m back: Men – Yuki Shirai (JPN), 1:58.68; Women – Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 2:08.61
50m breast: Men – Cameron Ven der Burgh (RSA), 27.23; Women – Alia Atkinson (JAM), 30.90
100m breast: Men – Cameron Van der Burgh (RSA), 1:00.23; Women – Alia Atkinson (JAM), 1:07.91
200m breast: Men – Akihiro Yamaguchi (JPN), 2:13.13; Women – Vitalina Simonova (RUS), 2:28.36
50m fly: Men – Geoffrey Cheah (HKG), 24.23; Women – Jeanette Ottesen (DEN), 25.82
100m fly: Men– Viacheslav Prudnikov (RUS) & Nic Brown (AUS), 53.64; Women – Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 59.31
200m fly: Men – Masato Sakai (JPN), 1:56.25; Women – Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 2:09.09
200m IM: Men – Tomas Elliot (AUS), 2:01.82; Women – Katinka Hosszu (HUN) 2:11.78
400m IM: Men – David Verraszto (HUN), 4:18.06; Women – Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 4:42.27

The best 3 performers in Hong Kong were:

Men
1. Cameron Van der Burgh (RSA), 50m breaststroke, 27.23, 939 points
2. Masato Sakai (JPN), 200m butterfly, 1:56.25, 882 points
3. Matthew Treloar (AUS), 50m breaststroke, 27.83, 880 points

Women
1. Emily Seebohm (AUS), 100m backstroke, 58.88, 961 points
2. Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 200m free, 1:55.81, 928 points
3. Cate Campbell (AUS), 100m free, 53.60, 916 points