2018 FINA WORLD CUP SERIES – KAZAN
- Friday, September 7th – Sunday, September 9th
- Aquatics Palace, Kazan, Russia
- LCM
- SwimSwam Meet Preview
- Entries List
- Results
The first stop of the first FINA World Cup cluster kicked off in Kazan this morning, with this 3-day meet taking place in long course meters. Although the overall number of entrants was on the slim side, several big stars took to the Aquatic Palace to chase some cash and earn points towards the overall World Cup title.
Hungarian Katinka Hosszu was one such powerhouse, as the Olympic champion was in the pool for the very first event of the women’s 400m free. She took the top seed in 4:17.06 ahead of China’s Zhou Chanzhen, who notched a morning outing of 4:18.18. Hosszu’s countrywoman Zsuzsanna Jakabos rounded out the top 3 of the morning in 4:22.62.
Hungarian Daniel Dudas snagged the top see for the men’s edition of the 400m free, clocking a morning effort of 3:57.61.
Mitch Larkin, the only Australian competing in Kazan, took the top spot in the men’s sluggish 200m backstroke, only needing a mark of 2:00.19 to lead the total of 12 entrants of the event. For the women’s backstroke, Russia’s Maria Kameneva came out on top of the 50m sprint in 28.31, while Dutch national record holder Kira Toussaint was right behind in 28.43. Of note, Dutch freestyle ace Ranomi Kromowidjojo was among the competitors in this off-event, making the final as the 6th seed in 29.36.
The men’s 100m fly saw some sparks, with the top 5 finishers of the morning prelim all falling under the 53-second barrier. Led by South African Ryan Coetzee‘s 52.52, America’s Michael Andrew was just .08 behind in 52.60, while Olympian Chad Le Clos was just .07 behind MA in 52.67. The 3 will battle it out in tonight’s final, but it won’t be the only race for Andrew.
Andrew took the 3rd seed in the men’s 50m freestyle in a solid morning outing of 22.26. Blasting the only sub-22 second time of the field, however, was Russia’s Vladimir Morozov, who touched in 21.83. 50m fly world record holder Andrii Govorov also looked good this morning in the free sprint, notching 22.08 as the 2nd seed.
Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom‘s morning 50m free time of 24.39 fell just .09 shy of cracking the World Cup record of 24.30 set by Australia’s Cate Campbell back in 2015. Kameneva wasn’t too terribly behind in 24.91. She holds Russia’s national record with the 24.21 produced at this year’s European Championships. Hosszu appeared in this race as well, finishing 7th in 25.41.
Finally, in the breaststroke events, Vitalina Simonova of Russia came out on top of the women’s 200m distance in 2:27.40, representing the only swimmer under 2:30 this morning. For the men’s 100m, it was speedy Anton Chupkov who clocked 59.98, with Dutchman Arno Kamminga just over .3 behind in 1:00.29.
Maybe just drop the world cup and give out lots of money at sc and long course worlds which would occur every non olympic year.
As few swimmers as there are, there’s probably less people in the stands
Sarah Sjöström 23.83!!!!!
Stange to see fast LCM swimming this time of year. Feels like the summer season just slowly fizzled out with that Asian Games/ JR Pan Pac Finale and now… we’re back?
Peaty was right about this being the wrong time to have these meets.
Nice prelim times by all!
Even the women’s 400 free? That was embarrassingly slow
Well I’m sure Hosszu wasn’t trying..
Superfan might have referred to that it only took 4:41 to make it back for Finals.
If it does not get any better, maybe FINA needs change it again. Not sure what the best format is but doing this meet Long Course is probably a big mistake. If the first meet was going to be LCM it should probably been much earlier and closer to the big meets.