Grinev Tops Morozov In 100 Free Firestorm At FINA World Cup Kazan

FINA WORLD CUP SERIES – KAZAN

• Friday, November 1st – Sunday, November 3rd
• Kazan Aquatics Palace, Kazan, Russia
• LCM
• Entries
• Day 1 Recap
• Results

After sealing up her 300th World Cup victory last night in Kazan, 30-year-old Iron Lady Katinka Hosszu was back in form on day 2 of this stop.

Beating the women’s 400m IM field tonight by almost 7 seconds, Hosszu racked up 891 FINA points with her final time of 4:36.77. That performance beat out the 4:38.15 she produced in Berlin but was slightly slower than the 4:34.37 from Budapest. Her quickest of the World Cup season rests at the 4:32.30 notched at the Tokyo stop, a mark which stands as the World Cup Record in the event.

Speaking of World Cup Records, one bit the dust on the men’s side tonight, courtesy of Russia’s Vladislav Grinev. The reigning national champion in the 100m freestyle stormed to the wall tonight in the only sub-48 second time of the field.

Splitting 22.84/24.94, Grinev stopped the clock in a time of 47.78 to top the men’s 100m free, overtaking the previous World Cup standard of 47.88 teammate Vlad Morozov had put up in Singapore in the process.

Tonight, Morozov was less than half a second away from Grinev, touching in 48.15, while Mikhail Vekovischchev, last night’s 100m fly winner, came on strong at the end to round out the top 3 tonight in 48.41.

Grinev’s time checks-in as the fastest of the 2019/20 season, displacing Morozov’s 47.99 outing from Budapest.

Morozov had earlier raced in the men’s 50m backstroke here, clocking a winning effort of 24.55. That’s just off his 24.40 season-best registered at the Singapore stop to earn a new World Cup Record.

American Michael Andrew was only .05 off of Morozov with his silver medal-worthy 24.60, while his NY Breakers teammate, Grigory Tarasevich of the host nation, was 3rd in 24.85.

German national record holder Philip Heintz was in the pool tonight, taking on the men’s 200m IM field. He was able to hold off Lithuanian 400m freestyle victor here, Danas Rapsys, touching in 1:59.11 to Rapsys’ 1:59.97. The two men represented the only finishers of the field under 2:00. Heintz holds a lifetime best and German record of 1:55.87 from 2017.

Although Dutch maestro Kira Toussaint fired off a new national record of 59.14 in the women’s 100m backstroke heats this morning, the 25-year-old wasn’t able to match that speed come tonight’s final.

Instead, it was Australian teenager Kaylee McKeown who got the job done for gold, hitting the wall in 59.25. Splits for McKeown included 29.06/30.19, just enough to keep Russian Mariia Kameneva a hair behind to the finish.

Kameneva put up a runner-up time just .02 McKeown in 59.27, while McKeown’s fellow Aussie, Emily Seebohm, took bronze in 59.63. Toussaint touched in 59.65 for 4th place.

For 19-year-old McKeown, her 59.25 time tonight checks-in as the 3rd-fastest performance of her career. She holds a lifetime best of 59.10 posted at this year’s World Championships where she placed 5th in the final there in Gwangju, Korea.

Arina Surkova of Russia was tonight’s 50m fly winner for the women, getting the only sub-26 second time of the field in 25.62. She took down her own Russian record in the event, holding off Aussie national record holder Cate Campbell in the process.

C1 touched in 26.08, while Jeanette Ottesen of Denmark rounded out the top 3 in 26.11. You can read more about Surkova’s record-setting swim here.

Japan’s Yasuhiro Koseki followed up his 100m breast bronze from last night with a gold in the men’s 50m breast tonight. Clocking 27.07, Koseki was .04 ahead of Brazil’s Felipe Lima and .08 ahead of Dutch record holder Arno Kamminga, who finished in 27.15.

Koseki owns the Japanese national record with his speedy 26.94 put up at the Mare Nostrum Tour stop in Monaco last summer.

As for Kamminga, the 23-year-old had become his nation’s first-ever sub-59 second 100m breaststroker en route to silver last night, while Anton Chupkov nailed a new sub-59 second Russian record as well.

Kamminga’s Dutch record in this 50m sprint rests at the 27.00 he notched at the World Cup stop in Budapest, so tonight’s effort was only .15 away from his lifetime best. Lima, on the other hand, owns the Brazilian national record in a much quicker 26.33.

Additional Winners:

• Russia’s Ilia Druzhinin came out on top of the men’s 1500m freestyle, touching in a gold medal-worthy 15:10.73.
• A close women’s 200m freestyle race saw the top 5 finishers all separated by just .32. Getting her hand on the wall first was Russia’s Daria S. Ustinova, who produced the quickest mark of 1:59.23. Next in line was teammate Daria Mullakeva in 1:59.43, while Hungary’s Zsuzsanna Jakabos also landed on the podium in 1:59.45 for bronze.
• Italy got on the board, courtesy of Arianna Castiglioni‘s victory in the women’s 100m breaststroke. She produced a winning time of 1:07.59 tonight.
• Daniil Pakhomov got it done int he men’s 200m fly, registering a mark of 1:57.85 for the win.