2018 FINA World Cup Kazan Day 1 Finals: Hosszu’s Monster Schedule

2018 FINA WORLD CUP SERIES – KAZAN

• Friday, September 7th – Sunday, September 9th
• Aquatics Palace, Kazan, Russia
• LCM
• SwimSwam Meet Preview
• Day 1 Prelims Recap
• Entries List
• Results

The first night of the first World Cup stop brought some fireworks, with a small, but star-studded field rocking the Aquatics Palace pool. America’s Michael Andrew, South Africa’s Chad Le Clos, Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom and Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu were just a handful of the big names racing in the 3-day affair taking place in Kazan.

We reported separately how 2 World Cup Series Records went down by the time the night finished, courtesy of Sjostrom and Russia’s Vlad Morozov. Both raced their way to the top of the podium in their respective women’s and men’s 50m freestyle races, with Sjostrom firing off a quick 23.83 while Morozov produced a super fast 21.49 to each claim gold. Both also overtook the previous World Cup Records to put themselves in series history right off the bat on this first stop.

This is the first meet since Hosszu’s post-Shane-Tusup-break-up where she took on her typical monster schedule. Hosszu appeared in 4 individual event finals this evening, starting with the women’s 400m freestyle. The Hungarian won the race in a modest time of 4:12.09 with country woman Zsuzsanna Jakabos making it a 1-2 punch in a mark of 4:14.70. China’s Zhou Chanzhen rounded out the top 3 in a time of 4:16.11.

Hosszu was almost immediately back up in the women’s 50m back sprint, where she managed to collect a silver medal in a time of 28.37 behind Dutch maestro Kira Toussaint. Toussaint touched in 28.18 for the win, creeping ever closer to the Dutch national record from the supersuit era, a 27.77 from Hinkelien Schrender from back in 2009. At the European Championships, Toussaint looked hopeful for a medal, clocking a quick 27.92 in the semi’s, but the former Tennessee swimmer settled for 8th place in a finals mark of 28.80 in Glasgow.

Claiming 50m back bronze this evening was Maria Kameneva, stopping the clock in 28.38, well-off her personal best of 27.70 notched at the European Championships this year. Of note, freestyle ace Ranomi Kromowidjojo maintained her 6th place position from prelims in this off-event, registering a time of 28.83.

The women’s 200 fly was Hosszu’s next victim, where the World Championships bronze medalist in the event got her hand on the wall first in a winning effort of 2:08.93. That’s well-off the 2:06.02 it took the Hungarian to snag that bronze in Budapest, but was enough to hold off teammate Jakabos in tonight’s race. Jakabos finished in 2:09.13 for silver this evening, while Russia’s Lada Bragina finished 9 seconds later in 2:18.88 for bronze.

Hosszu capped off her evening with a run at the 50m freestyle where she settled for 7th in 25.28. Behind the aforementioned Sjostrom’s phenomenal gold medal-winning swim was a pair of Dutch athletes in Kromowidjojo and Femke Heemskerk who took silver and bronze in respective efforts of 24.55 and 24.64.

America’s Andrew was the silver medalist behind Morozov in the 50m free, taking the runner-up spot in a very respectable 21.99. Before that, however, he powered his way to an impressive victory over South Africa’s Le Clos in the men’s 100m fly. Splitting 23.92/28.04, Andrew clocked the only sub-52 second outing of the field in 51.96, a time within half a second of his personal best of 51.53 from Pan Pacs.

Le Clos wound up tying with Russia’s Egor Kuimov to land on the 2nd step fo the podium in 52.00, while anther South African, Ryan Coetzee, registered 52.10 for 4th place.

The men’s 100m breaststroke was another tight affair, with Russia’s Anton Chupkov maintaining his top seed from the morning and beating the field in 59.53. Just behind him was Brazil’s Felipe Lima, his country’s only competitor here in Kazan, while Dutch national record holder Arno Kamminga rounded out the top 3 in 59.99.

Additional Winners:

• The men’s 400 free was on the sluggish side, with Russia’s Yaroslav Potapov taking the win in 3:54.78.
• Sole Australian competitor here in Kazan, Mitch Larkin, took the men’s 200m back easily in a time of 1:57.23. He was the only swimmer tonight to notch an effort under the 2-minute barrier. Of note, Larkin holds the World Cup Record with the 1:53.17 he threw down back in 2015. That mark still stands as the Australian, Oceanic and Commonwealth Record in the event.
• Russian breaststroker Vitalina Simonova was tonight’s 200m winner, clocking 2:23.86 for the gold.