2015 FINA World Cup Doha: Day 2 Finals Live Recap

2015 FINA WORLD CUP: DOHA

• Monday, November 2nd and Tuesday, November 3rd
• Prelims – 10 am local (3 am EST)  Finals – 6 pm local (10 am EST)
• Hamad Aquatic Center
• Full Schedule/Meet Information
• Start Lists/Live Results
• FINA Live Stream
• Point Standings After Tokyo
• Meet Preview
  
• Day 1 Finals Recap
• Day 2 Prelims Recap

WOMEN’S 100 FREE – FINALS

Yesterday, Australia’s Melanie Wright earned silver in the 50m freestyle and she took things up a notch to nab the gold in the 100 distance today.  Wright logged a time of 53.86 to represent the only sub-54 finals swimmer for the gold, while Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu adds to her World Cup hardware collection with silver in 54.40. USA’s Felicia Lee snagged bronze in the race with her mark of 55.22, her 2nd-fastest this year.

MEN’S 200 FREE – FINALS

James Guy looked superb in his gold medal-winning 400m freestyle swim yesterday, so it’s no surprise the Brit doubled up on his win with a 200m free victory tonight.  His time of 1:47.06 sits outside the world’s top 10 on the year, but the World Champion held off Serbia’s Velimir Stjepanovic, who touched in 1:47.56 for silver. USA’s Maxime Rooney suffered a goggle mishap in prelims this morning, but still found himself as the 2nd seed headed into tonight’s final.  Rooney also impressed, logging his 4th-fastest 200 free mark ever, a 1:48.15 for bronze. Of note, neither France’s Yannick Agnel nor South Africa’s Chad Le Clos made the 200 freestyle final, as they finished in 10th and 13th, respectively.

WOMEN’S 50 BREAST – FINALS

Super quick time for Jamaica’s Alia Atkinson to rake up the gold medal in the sprint breast event. Her winning time of 30.55 registers as the 6th-fastest of the year. For Atkinson, this win marks her 32nd gold medal of her World Cup series’ history. USA’s Molly Hannis snagged the silver in her 4th-fastest time ever in this event (31.12) and managed to hold off Australia’s Leiston Pickett who touched just .01 of a second later in 31.13.

MEN’S 100 BREAST – FINALS

South Africa’s Cameron Van der Burgh remains unbeaten in the 2015 World Cup Series across both the 50m and now the 100m breaststroke events, as the Olympian claimed gold yet again in a time of 59.68. VDB was the only finalist to dip beneath the 1:00 threshold, as runner-up Daniel Gyurta from Hungary settled for silver in 1:00.60, followed by Great Britain’s Ross Murdoch who finished in 1:00.84 for bronze.

MEN’S 100 FLY – FINALS

In what could have been a monster battle, the men’s 100 butterfly was simply owned by South Africa’s Chad Le Clos, as he scored the race’s only sub-52 time of the night.  Le Clos’ touched in 51.44 to tie the 10th-fastest time in the world and beat America’s Tom Shields by over half a second.  Shields finished in a very respectable 52.10 for silver. Bronze went to Australian Chris Wright, who finished in 52.50, with American Giles Smith just .08 behind in 4th (52.58).

WOMEN’S 100 BACK – FINALS

Emily Seebohm is to the women’s 100 back as Cameron Van der Burgh is to the men’s 100 breast – utterly, undeniably consistent.  Seebohm’s times in this event have been incredible, as the Australian mastered tonight’s edition of the race in a time of 58.34, the 2nd-fastest mark of 2015 only behind her gold in Kazan. Seebohm’s performance tonight registers as the 6th-fastest of all time. A full second behind was Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu, who collected her 2nd silver on the night in a time of 59.35. Bronze in the race went to American legend Natalie Coughlin, who logged a swift and promising time of 59.72. That’s the 3rd time Coughlin has registered a sub-minute outing, as she clocked marks of 59.05 and 59.20 at the Pan American Games this past summer.

MEN’S 50 BACK – FINALS

A gold-medal-winning tie resulted from tonight’s sprint final, with both Australian Mitch Larkin and American David Plummer spinning their way to a time of 24.70.  That time marks Plummer’s swiftest of 2015 and ties both Larkin and Plummer with France’s Jeremy Stravius for 7th-fastest in the world. 30-year-old Liam Tancock of Great Britain gave his squad their 3rd medal on the night behind Guy and Murdoch, clearing bronze in a time of 25.65.

WOMEN’S 200 FLY – FINALS

Hungary added to its medal count, but this time it was Zsuzsanna Jakabos with the win, taking the women’s 200 fly in a time of 2:08.47. That was a solid second swifter than Swiss swimmer Martina Van Berkel, that country’s current national record holder in the event, who touched tonight in 2:09.59 for silver. In a nod to her maturity and talent, young American Cassidy Bayer pulled down the bronze in a time of 2:09.98, her 4th-fastest of 2015 and 5th-fastest mark ever.

MEN’S 200 IM – FINALS

Frequent World Cup 400m IM winner David Verraszto finished in the back seat in tonight’s shorter event, wrapping up bronze in a time of 2:01.90. Further ahead of him in the race was Japan’s Keita Sunama, who earned his country’s 1st medal of the session, gold in a time of 2:00.48.  South African Michael Meyer gave South Africa another medal on the night with his silver in this 200 IM in a time of 2:01.63.

WOMEN’S 400 FREE – FINALS

New Zealand’s Lauren Boyle earned her 2nd gold of the meet, as the women’s 400m freestyle race saw the same top 2 finishers as the 800m event from yesterday.  Right behind Boyle’s 4:06.58 was Great Britain’s Jaz Carlin, who snagged the silver in a time of 4:07.42.  Despite a surging sub-30-second final 50 split, France’s Coralie Balmy wound up with the bronze in a time of 4:07.56.

MEN’S 50 FREE – FINALS

Brazilian speedster Bruno Fratus, competing in his first ever World Cup meet, fired off a speedy time of 22.28 to nab gold in the splash n’ dash, while USA’s Anthony Ervin redeemed himself from a somewhat disastrous 100 to collect silver in the shorter event in 22.47, one of his quicker times on the year.  Yesterday, Ervin clocked a sluggish 51.13 to finish 26th out of prelims of the men’s 100m freestyle.  Bronze in the 50 tonight went to South Africa’s Douglas Erasmus in a time of 22.50.

WOMEN’S 200 BREAST – FINALS

Japan goes 1-2 in the women’s 200 breaststroke event, as Rie Kaneto touches first in 2:23.45, followed by countrymate Runa Imai in 2:24.24.  Denmark’s Rikke Moller Pedersen wound up a very close 3rd in 2:24.47. Kaneto’s win marks her 13th gold World Cup medal in this event. Her fastest of 2015 was the 2:21.90 she clocked at the Japan Swim in April.

MEN’S 200 BACK – FINALS

There’s simply no stopping Australia’s Mitch Larkin, who just registered his 3rd-fastest 200m backstroke time of 2015 in 1:53.80.  The only two speedier marks resulted in Larkin’s breaking the Australian and Commonwealth records; first with his 1:53.58 at the 2015 FINA World Championships, then with his 1:53.34 from the Tokyo World Cup. Far behind – as in 4 seconds behind – Japan’s Masaki Kanek clocked a 1:57.83 for silver, with GBR’s European Games superstar Luke Greenbank another second behind in 1:58.83 for bronze. South Africa’s Chad Le Clos finished in 4th in 1:59.39.

WOMEN’S 50 FLY – FINALS

Two Swiss swimmers swam themselves to podium placements tonight, with Alexandra Sasha Touretski taking gold in a time of 26.81 and teammate Svenja Stoffel nabbing bronze in 26.96.   In between the Swiss was USA’s Felicia Lee who earned her 2nd medal on the night. Lee finished in 26.85 for silver in the sprint.

MEN’S 1500 FREE – FINALS

Still amazing to see such a long, grueling race have its finishers touch less than a second apart.  Such was the case tonight in Doha, with Ukraine’s Mykhailo Romanchuk finishing in 15:07.06 and France’s Damien Joly finishing less than a second behind in 15:07.97. Great Britain’s Stephen Milne gave his squad another piece of hardware for the way home, registering a time of 15:12.13 for 3rd.

WOMEN’S 400 IM – FINALS

Hungarian Katinka Hosszu keeps her World Cup winning streak alive in the women’s 400m IM event, taking tonight’s win in a time of 4:36.39. That checks in as the 10th-fastest time of 2015 and adds to the World Cup points leader’s medal tally of 7 in just Doha alone. Silver in the race went to Japan’s Sakiko Shimizu in 4:37.95, while USA’s Caitlin Leverenz earned bronze in 4:39.74.