Swimming Video / Race Video is courtesy of Universal Sports Network, a SwimSwam partner.
As reported by SwimSwam / Braden Keith
WOMEN’S 400 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – FINALS
2012 World Champ: 4:23.14 – Hannah Miley – Great Britain
2010 World Champ: 4:24.21 – Mireia Belmonte Garcia – Spain
World Record: 4:19.86 – Mireia Belmonte – Spain – 2014
In the first matchup of the day between Mireia Belmonte and Katinka Hosszu, both swimmers were as good as they’ve ever been in the 200 fly, and Belmonte’s out-of-this-world swim was just too good.
In this 400 IM, Belmonte’s swim was again out-of-this-world, though in this case Hosszu couldn’t match her best.
The Spaniard swam a new World Record of 4:19.86, which once again by a full second broke the old record. That old record was a 4:20.83 done by Hosszu done in this same pool at the Doha World Cup stop earlier this year.
On this day, Hosszu could only muster a 4:22.94 for 2nd place. She once again led Belmonte for the first half of this race, but another big Belmonte closing kick did Hosszu and the record in.
Britain’s Hannah Miley took 3rd in 4:24.74 – a time about 1.6 seconds slower than she was in 2012 to win gold in this same event.
American Elizabeth Beisel missed the podium in 4th place with a 4:25.56, followed by Japan’s Miho Takahashi (4:27.61) and the other American Caitlin Leverenz (4:28.74). Oddly enough, Leverenz, renowned for her breaststroke speed, was slower than all five of the swimmers ahead of her in the 100 meters of breaststroke.
eventually the rule is going to be underwater dolphin kick to 15m on breast as well…
Cheating is cheating, chemical or otherwise.
Double kicking by both first and second place ….Big kudos to Spanish doctors.
?
Wow! An amazing swim from many in the field. And that is without a doubt the most clear shot of double kicking in breast as I’ve ever seen! Still, very remarkable swims.
Wow that double dolphin kick on the breast is as blatant as I’ve ever seen
I watched the video because of this comment and it was more blatant than I expected.
Why all of the editing? Is there a way to see the whole race?
Hi Craig, unfortunately the Universal Sports licensing agreements only allows them to post a certain section of content on the internet.
Braden, I’ll take it. I’d still love more coverage, but I really appreciate the videos.
Hosszu was a wonderful rabbit for Belmonte.
However, the Spanish girl has a huge motor.
She’s, as we like to say, a back-half swimmer.
And what a back-half she has in each of her races! 😯
Another great swim by Belmonte, though I’d really like to see the whole race and all of the underwaters. Maybe my eyes are deceiving me, but I find it hard not to call Hosszu for a double dolphin kick off the breaststroke wall around the 1:30 mark of this video.
Harder to see but you can see that she did two clear underwater dolphin kicks coming off the backstroke on her first pullout. Interesting to see if she changes it for the 200 IM now that it is out there.