Katinka Hosszu Doubles Her Way to 30th Individual Gold

BEIJING, China, November 3. KATINKA Hosszu doubled her way to her 30th individual gold medal on the circuit thus far with two more stops to go, as she is now sitting with more than $50,000 in earnings after the Beijing stop of the World Cup.

For a quick refresher course, the FINA World Cup is a global circuit of two-day meets all swum in short course meters (25m) setups. Swimmers vie for cash earnings with first-place individual winners earning $1,500, while second place wins $1,000. Third place in each event also takes home $500. Relays are not money races.

The overall circuit winners for the men and women by the end of the eight-meet series next month will win $100,000 each. Chad Le Clos and Therese Alshammar both banked six-figure paydays last year with Le Clos topping out at $145,500, including nearly $50k in just race winnings alone. Thus far this year, Katinka Hosszu and Kenneth To lead the overall standings heading into the Asian leg of the tour.

Men's 1500 free
USA's Michael Klueh crushed the field en route to a dominant winning time of 14:39.12 in the metric mile. That swim is far and away the top mile on the circuit thus far, blasting the 14:51.29 set by David Verraszto in his win in Berlin. In his first meet on the tour this year, Klueh has already pocketed a tidy $2,500. Australia's Mack Horton placed second in 14:47.13 after taking the very early lead. China's Liu Weijia followed up with a third-place time of 14:52.71.

Women's 100 free
Germany's Britta Steffen bested 53 seconds yet again on the circuit, this time topping the freestyle event in 52.78. That is Steffen's fourth time under 53 seconds already, and a bit shy of her best time of 52.46 used to win in Stockholm. Steffen jumped her earnings to $16,500 with her victory. China's Li Shuyi clinched second-place honors in 53.04, while China's Tang Yi touched third in 53.17. They are both new to the podium on the circuit thus far.

Men's 200 free
Australia's Tomasso D'Orsogna emerged from a close finish to win the 200 free in 1:43.20. Australia's Robert Hurley and South Africa's Darian Townsend shared second-place honors with matching times of 1:43.50. The times are a bit slow compared to some of the rest of the tour thus far. France's Yannick Agnel locked down the top time in Berlin with a 1:42.10, while Germany's Paul Biedermann posted a 1:42.71 in Berlin as well. The top three are among the top earners this year. D'Orsogna salted away $11,500 so far, while Hurley is at $18,750 and counting. Townsend has already won $16,250 during his time on the tour.

Women's 50 breast
USA's Jessica Hardy broken up a Swedish 1-2 as she took second in the sprint breast with a 30.53. Sweden's Jennie Johansson (30.41) and Rebecca Ejdervik (30.56) placed first and third to round out the podium. Johansson nearly moved to $10,000 in circuit winnings with her win, now holding $9,500. Hardy is among the top 10 female earners thus far with $11,500, while Ejdervik has a pair of $500 checks this weekend. In terms of times, there's been faster on the circuit this year with Ruta Meilutyte already clearing 30 seconds with a 29.96 to win in Stockholm, while Hardy has been 30.13 with her victory in Berlin.

Men's 100 breast
New Zealand's Glenn Snyders joined the $10k club with his second win of the weekend. He raced to a 57.96 for the victory to push his earnings to $11,000 overall. Australia's Christian Sprenger took second in 58.06, while China's Wang Shuai placed third in 58.42. Snyders has been faster on the tour this year with a 57.89 in Berlin, and the top time so far is a 57.22 from Cameron van der Burgh during the Doha stop.

Women's 400 IM
China's Ye Shiwen used a blistering breaststroke leg to capture the distance medley crown over Hungary's Katinka Hosszu. Ye topped the finale for the IM sweep with a 4:26.93, while Hosszu touched second in 4:27.80. Hungary's Zsuzsanna Jakabos piled up more cash with a third-place time of 4:31.28. Both top times smashed Hosszu's previous best this season of 4:28.10 from the Stockholm stop and would have been among the top 10 in the world last year. Hosszu is on the precipice of the $50k mark with $49,750 in winnings, while Jakabos has now earned $24,250 on the tour. Ye's sitting at $3,000 with a pair of wins this weekend.

Men's 100 fly
Australia's Kenneth To won his second gold medal of the weekend with a 50.96 in the 100 fly. China's Zhang Qibin touched second in 51.21, while Kenya's Jason Dunford took home third in 51.34. To now has $16,000 in circuit earnings so far, while Dunford pushed his tally to $6,500. Zhang is a newcomer this weekend, having placed second twice. To finished well off the top-time pace set by Chad le Clos with a 49.60 from the Doha stop.

Women's 100 back
Australia's Rachel Goh continued to be unstoppable in backstroke so far, this time with a scorching 57.07 for the win. China's Zhou Yanxin placed second in 58.27, while China's Cheng Haihua took third in 58.27. Goh is the third-highest female earner on the tour so far this year with $17,000 in winnings as she has been remarkable consistent at the top of the backstroke podiums, pulling in a pair of $1,500 checks at nearly every stop. She nearly bettered her tour-best time of 57.02 from the Berlin stop with her swim this evening.

Men's 50 back
Goh and Donets go well together as once again, Stanislav Donets and Rachel Goh follow each other with wins. Donets topped the sprint backstroke event with a 23.14, while China's Sun Xiaolei placed second in 23.56. Australia's Ashley Delaney earned third-place honors in 23.64. Donets also has $17,000 in earnings, and moved to second amongst the men. Delaney's haul is currently at $7,000 with a plethora of third-place finishes so far. Donets' time clipped his previous circuit best this year of 23.16 from the Berlin stop.

Women's 200 fly
Hungary's Katinka Hosszu closed out her 29th individual gold medal of the tour with a blistering final 50 meters en route to a 2:06.02 for the win. Wingwoman Zsuzsanna Jakabos touched second in 2:07.25, while China's Liu Zige earned third in 2:08.75. Hosszu came up a bit short of her two fastest times on the circuit thus far of a 2:05.77 and 2:05.78, but managed to push her overall winnings over the $50K mark. Jakabos has already earned a nice sum with $25,250 in earnings as well as the Hungarian duo has been piling up large sums of cash throughout the tour.

Men's 200 IM
South Africa's Darian Townsend dug deep in a touchout triumph over China's Wang Shun, 1:54.25 to 1:54.36. Australia's Kenneth To earned another paycheck with a third-place 1:54.65. The times are well off the top time of 1:53.25 set by Townsend in his win in Dubai, but were good enough to push Townsend to $17,750 in earnings. To, meanwhile, now has $16,500 in his cash coffers after the third-place check.

Women's 400 free
China's Shao Yiwen missed the Chinese record by the slimmest of margins with a 4:00.56 in her second victory of the weekend. Her swim came up just short of the 4:00.55 set by Liu Jing on the Beijing stop of the 2011 tour. China's Zhang Yufei took second in 4:06.48, while New Zealand's Melissa Ingram touched third in 4:06.53. It is hard to measure up to the effort from Camille Muffat on the last stop, when she nearly set the world record with a blazing 3:54.93.

Men's 50 free
Once again, Trinidad and Tobago's George Bovell and USA's Anthony Ervin put on a show in the men's splash-and-dash with Bovell clearing 21 seconds for the win. Bovell clocked a 20.98 to win, while Ervin finished second in 21.19. Australia's Cameron McEvoy turned in a third-place 21.46 to complete the podium. Bovell and Ervin have traded the top spot in the event throughout the circuit, with both piling up plenty of cash winnings. Bovell now has $14,500, while Ervin has earned $11,250. With his 20.98 time, Bovell has now cleared 21 seconds four times after entering the tour this year with zero 20-second career outings.

Women's 200 breast
For the first time this year, a pair of swimmers broke 2:20, as Japan's Rie Kaneto overhauled Australia's Sally Foster down the finish, 2:19.33 to 2:19.96. China's Shi Jingling placed third in 2:23.25. Kaneto had owned the top time in the world this year with a 2:19.96 from the Berlin stop, but cut plenty of time from that effort with her swim tonight. She also has now trumped her best time of a year ago of 2:19.72 that had ranked her fifth in the world. With her win, Kaneto is now up to $8,500 in earnings.

Women's 100 IM
Hungary's Katinka Hosszu doubled up with her second win of the night, pushing her individual gold tally on the circuit to a stunning 30. Hosszu clocked a 59.90 to win the sprint medley for her third gold of the weekend. She also increased her earnings to an astonishing $51,750 in the process. Her compatriot Zsuzsanna Jakabos placed second in 1:00.25, her fourth runner-up of the weekend, moving her winnings to $26,250. Meanwhile, Australia's Kotuku Ngawati finished third in 1:00.27. Hosszu has now been under 1:00 twice this tour, having posted the fastest time of the year with a 59.69 during the Moscow stop.

Men's 200 back
After moving to 14th all time with a season-best effort of 1:49.94 in Berlin, Japan's Yuki Shirai returned in the distance dorsal with a 1:51.04 for the win. Russia's Stanislav Donets saw an opportunity to make some cash with a 200 swim today, and capitalized with a second-place 1:52.02, while Australia's Ashley Delaney secured his fourth third-place check of the weekend with a 1:52.18. Shirai has now earned $6,250, while Donets is up to $18,000. Delaney's routine third-place finishes have him up to $7,500 in earnings.

Women's 50 fly
The Netherland's Inge Dekker clinched her second gold of the weekend with a 25.64 in the sprint fly. China's Lu Ying took second in 25.80, while Denmark's Jeanette-Ottesen Gray placed third in 25.94. The finale proved to be one of the deeper ones on the tour, but Therese Alshammar's top-end speed of 25.56 from the Doha stop withstood Dekker's effort to move to the top of the world this year. Dekker has now won $14,000 in earnings.

Mixed 200 free relay
China's Shi Yang (22.49), Lu Zhiwu (22.18), Wang Haibing (25.11) and Tang Yi (24.93) won the mixed-gender relay with a 1:34.71. China's Liu Zhaochen (22.93), Hou Mingda (21.98), Zhang Jiaqi (24.97) and Liu Zhao (25.09) placed second in 1:34.97. China's Wang Qian (22.87), Zhang Ying (24.27), He Jiaqi (25.29) and Liang Ziyong (22.65) earned third in 1:35.08.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x