Cate Campbell Further Edges Toward World Cup Series Crown With 24.11 50 Free

FINA WORLD CUP SERIES – DOHA

The final stop of the 2019 FINA World Cup Series kicked off at Hamad Aquatic Center in Doha, Qatar, with both the men’s and women’s point leaders in the water to get the 3-day meet underway.

Aussie Cate Campbell‘s lead over Hungarian Katinka Hosszu‘s grew from 6 points before the last stop in Kazan to 24 points headed into Doha, so the crown is all but set upon the sprinter’s head at this point. But, there is still room for Hosszu to make a big-time move to clinch the series title.

On day 1, C1 threw down a time of 24.11 to take the women’s 50m freestyle crown with ease, hitting the wall .39 ahead of runner-up Michelle Coleman of Sweden. Bronte Campbell, also known as C2, clinched the bronze in the only other sub-25 second time of the final field in 24.74.

C1‘s time tonight was just a hair off the 24.08 she put up last week in Kazan, a performance that garnered her 949 FINA points. Her swim tonight was worth 946 to inch her closer to the overall series crown.

For the men, Russia’s Vladimir Morozov busted out yet another 21-point 50m freestyle to maintain his comfortable series lead. The 27-year-old former USC Trojan produced a winning effort tonight of 21.83 to top the podium, holding off Japan’s Kosuke Matsui who touched in 22.02 for silver.

Bronze in the men’s 50m free went to Hungary’s Maxim Lobanovskij, who rounded out the top 3 in 22.04.

Of note, there was a 3-way tie for the top seed out of this morning’s heats with Lobanovskij, Morozov and Dutchman Jesse Puts all registering AM swims of 22.27. In tonight’s final, Puts wound up 4th in 22.32, his fastest time of the circuit.

Remaining undefeated in their respective events of the women’s 200m fly and men’s 400m free were World Cup mainstays Katinka Hosszu of Hungary and Danas Rapsys of Lithuania.

Hosszu, who rests #2 in the point standings heading into Doha, logged a winning 2fly time of 2:08.60 to out-touch countrywoman Zsuzsanna Jakabos and her outing of 2:08.95. The pair, along with Australia’s Meg Bailey, scored the only sub-2:10 times of the final.

As for Hosszu, her gold medal-worthy effort reaped 849 FINA points, so she’ll need to depend on other performances to try to catch Campbell for the World Cup Series title. If not, then the Aussie will be the 2nd woman to deny Hosszu the overall World Cup Series title since 2012, as Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom topped the circuit both in 2017 and 2018.

Rapsys wrapped up his dominance in the men’s 400m free event, going 7-for-7 across this circuit. He took tonight’s prize in a time of 3:47.87, a modest swim for the man who put up a new World Cup Record of 3:43.91 in Jinan, China.

Behind the Lithuanian was Energy Standard team member Mykhailo Romanchuk, hitting the wall in a time of 3:48.61.

European Junior Champion Antonio Djakovic of Switzlernad was also in the race, placing 5th tonight in 3:51.59. He took the title in Kazan at Euro Jrs in a mark of 3:47.89, representing a new Swiss national record.

On-fire Dutch backstroking ace Kira Toussaint logged a winning time of 27.80 in tonight’s 50m backstroke. That gave her the win, although it was .31 off of her lifetime best and new Dutch national record of 27.49 registered at the Berlin stop of this FINA World Cup Series.

Runner-up in the sprint went to Kaylee McKeown of Australia, as the teen put up a time of 27.92. That checks-in as the 4th fastest time of the Aqua Centurions team member’s career. Her teammate from down under, Emily Seebohm, scored bronze in 28.08.

Anton Chupkov of Russia and Arno Kamminga of the Netherlands made history in Kazan last week, becoming the first men ever from their respective nations to clock 100m breaststroke times under the 59-second barrier.

They were still under a minute tonight, but couldn’t quite replicate the magic, as Japan’s national record holder Yasuhiro Koseki got to the wall first in 59.11. Splitting 27.71/31.40, Koseki touched .14 ahead of Kamminga’s 59.25 and .72 ahead of Chupkov’s 59.83.

Brazilian beast Felipe Lima also got under a minute in 59.85, while Aussie Jack Packard joined the party in 5th place in 59.90. For 25-year-old Olympian Packard, his outing tonight represents his first time ever under a minute at a non-Championships meet.

Finally, with the International Swimming League (ISL) on a reprieve from competition this weekend, South African Olympic icon Chad Le Clos was in the Doha water, getting the win in the men’s 100m fly. With splits of 24.22/27.48, Le Clos snagged gold in a time of 51.70.

That comfortably defeated the next closest swimmer of Jakob Majerski of Poland, who put up 52.11 for silver. Majerski’s time tonight knocks .06 off of his previous PB of 52.17 clocked in prelims of the World Cup stop in Budapest.

Wrangling up the bronze in the men’s 100m fly was American Michael Andrew, who logged a time of 52.38. He was 51.83 at this same meet a year ago.

Additional Winners:

  • Marlene Kahler of Austria touched in a time of 4:10.51 to reap gold in tonight’s women’s 400m free final. Her time was only .02 off her own personal best mark of 4:10.49 she clocked to place 14th out of the heats at this year’s World Championships.
  • Hungary’s Eszter Bekesi produced the women’s 200m breaststroke time of 2:28.24 for gold.
  • Australian got another gold on the board, courtesy of Bradley Woodward‘s podium-topping swim of 1:58.42 in the 200m back. He just edged out Japan’s Keita Sunama who recorded a mark of 1:58.83 for silver.

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Steve
5 years ago

It has long been recognized that the 200m IM and the 400m IM are the top swimming events. You have to be good at four different types of swimming to win the IM. Comparing it to tennis, you must have all the shots to become a champion.

Oceanian
Reply to  Steve
5 years ago

I think it’s fair to say you have to be good at three and can be ok in breaststroke…

Steve
Reply to  Oceanian
5 years ago

I don’t see how a freestyle specialist can be compared to an all around swimmer.

Troyy
5 years ago

Clyde Lewis failed to qualify for the 100m free final on day 2 with a 50.38.

Oceanian
5 years ago

Have to come here to check out the results as the fina site is as woeful as ever for easy-access to results.

Troyy
Reply to  Oceanian
5 years ago

I wish FINA had a website like the IAAF. The athlete profiles in particular are really good, full of all the information you’d want and always up to date.

https://www.iaaf.org/athletes/united-states/noah-lyles-284369

Oceanian
Reply to  Troyy
5 years ago

IAAF stats are pretty good but results used to be better – even 20years ago in the early days. Could access all results in a meet from one page instead of having to click on every event. And that horrible ‘Diamond League’ music 😉 But the live results during events/meets are generally much better/user-friendly than FINA.

Corn Pop
5 years ago

At 14 Cate did a 24.5 after only a few years of swimming half seriously. She could have just kept to that & just gained .5 improving a kid’s start & never bothered with the stress of the rest .

Are there any other sports where you could just do kids training & have a 13 year career at the top ? . Its late in her career to hit a jackpot but its finally a decent haul much better than say , doing a PHD.

Be it Isl or Fina getting paid for swimming is still uneven . If we had not fetished over the Olympics then we may hsve had a better industry before now .

Yozhik
Reply to  Corn Pop
5 years ago

Besides any other earnings this year she will have about $300,000 from World Cup (if nothing happens unforeseen in next two days). Not many people can have such annual salary. Does it reflect the rarity of her talent. I think it doesn’t. Anyway, glad to see her succeeding.

Yozhik
5 years ago

“…Aussie will be the 2nd woman to deny Hosszu the overall World Cup Series title since 2012, as Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom topped the circuit both in 2017 and 2018
It would be nice to inform readers that Hosszu’s reign stopped after changes done to prize points calculation rules favoring now high quality performances. That caused furious reaction from Hosszu and her husband resulting in the open letter blaming FINA of not caring about swimmers wellbeing. By that time FINA paid Hosszu ~ 1.5 millions dollars of prize money in World Cup tournaments.

Riez
Reply to  Yozhik
5 years ago

You are really that soviet cartoon character, kid, the hedgehog totally lost in fog.
To keep up with sprinters like C1 or Sjostrom, Hosszu would have to swim 2:04 200 fly, 4:29 400 IM or 2:06 200IM in season. Simple as that. You are just wasting your time with these thick novels.

Yozhik
Reply to  Riez
5 years ago

“Hedgehog in the fog” (ежик в тумане) is one of my favorite cartoons. You got me right. I’m a hedgehog – you are the one who creates fog around Hosszu so people cannot see facts.
Wang Jianjiahe could easily win World Cup in previous seasons should Chinese government or Chinese swimming federation (don’t know how it works down there) let her compete in more than one cluster. She won her events with world record or close to world record results. The swimmer should not be a sprinter necessarily to win the Cup, but he/.she has to perform above mediocre level in his/her events.

Yozhik
Reply to  Riez
5 years ago

You should be fair towards Cate Campbell. Quality of her races is measured against outstanding records of other swimmer: Sarah Sjostrom. I don’t foresee those records to be broken soon. They are really tough. On the other hand the quality of Hosszu’s races are measured against her personal bests.

Yozhik
5 years ago

The statement is made. Only very weird combination of events has to happen to preclude Cate Campbell from winning cluster and overall main prizes. Not only there should be three swimmers who show better than her (946) performance but Hosszu has to be the best of them. The 946 rate is better than any performances of her competitors shown in Kazan stop last week.
p.s. the article incorrectly informs that difference in total points between Campbell and Hosszu before stop in Kazan was 6 points. It was less than that.

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Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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