Katinka Hosszu Doubles, Daiya Seto, Yuki Shirai Down Japanese Records On Night Two In Tokyo

TOKYO, Japan, November 6. HUNGARY's Katinka Hosszu claimed two more golds en route to her 35th individual gold medal and more than $61K in earnings, while a pair of Japanese records tumbled during the final night of swimming at the FINA World Cup stop in Tokyo, Japan.

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 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 final two stops of the tour.

Men's 1500 free
USA's Michael Klueh claimed his second gold medal of the meet with a 14:38.64 in the metric mile, while Faroe Island's Pal Joensen took second in 14:44.83. Japan's Ayatsugu Hirai placed third in 14:45.60. Klueh, in just two meets, has pushed his earnings to $5,500 after he joined the tour on the Asian leg. His time cleared the previous best this year of 14:39.12 he clocked in Beijing.

Women's 100 free
Germany's Britta Steffen remained the sprint queen on the tour so far with a sizzling 52.42 to win the 100 free. Denmark's Jeanette Ottesen-Gray touched second in 53.49, while Australia's Kotuku Ngawati picked up third in 53.59. The win kept Steffen under 53 seconds for the fifth time on the tour, and cleared her best time of 52.46 from the Stockholm stop. Her lifetime best is a sixth-ranked 51.76 from 2010. Steffen nearly cleared $20K in earnings with the win, tallying $19,500.

Men's 200 free
Three of the top earners on the circuit took home more money in the 200 free with South Africa's Darian Townsend topping the podium in 1:43.31. Australia's Robert Hurley placed a close second in 1:43.93, while Australia's Tomasso D'Orsogna touched third in 1:44.49. Townsend eclipsed $20K with $20,250, while Hurley also moved past $20K with $20,750. D'Orsogna pushed his tally to $13,000. The times were swift, but came up short of Yannick Agnel's top time of the circuit of 1:42.10 set in Berlin.

Women's 50 breast
USA's Jessica Hardy dominated the sprint breaststroke event with a winning time of 29.92. Denmark's Rikke Moller Pedersen touched second in 30.35, while Sweden's Rebecca Ejdervik earned third in 30.52. Hardy kicked her earning tally to $15,000, while Pedersen and Ejdervik have both made less than $2,000 this year. Hardy moved to the top of the charts this year, besting Ruta Meilutyte's effort of 29.96 from the Stockholm stop, and made a run at her ratified American record of 29.58 from 2008.

Men's 100 breast
New Zealand's Glenn Snyders touched out Japan's Akihiro Yamaguchi in the 100 breast, 57.98 to 58.22, while Japan's Kouichirou Okazaki placed third in 58.67. Snyders pushed his earning tally to $13,000 with his victory, and cleared 58 seconds for the third time this tour. Cameron van der Burgh still holds the best time with a 57.22 from the Doha stop.

Women's 400 IM
Hungary's Katinka Hosszu used a superior freestyle leg to salt away her 34th individual gold medal on the circuit with a 4:28.14 in the distance medley. Her compatriot Zsuzsanna Jakabos finished second in 4:28.96, while Japan's Miho Takahashi claimed third in 4:33.08. Hosszu has now earned $57,750 for her efforts on the tour, while Jakabos is up to $28,750 in earnings. The top two times were well off the blistering 4:26.93 Ye Shiwen used to win in Beijing as the top time this year, but still close to Hosszu's best effort of 4:27.80 also in that same race in Beijing.

Men's 100 fly
China's Zhang Qibin topped the event in 50.53, while Kenya's Jason Dunford finished second in 50.73. Japan's Kazuya Kaneda checked in third with a 50.92. Dunford nearly broke $10K with $9,000 in earnings, while Zhang is at $4,500 on just the Asian leg of the tour. Zhang's time broke the Chinese record of 50.71 set by Shi Feng at the Asian Games. Chad Le Clos still has the best time on the tour this year with a 49.60 from the Doha stop.

Women's 100 back
In a close call, Australia's Grace Loh clipped compatriot Rachel Goh by the slimmest of margins, 57.71 to 57.72, as Goh continued to try to shake off the after effects of food poisoning from the first day of the meet. Japan's Shiho Sakai placed third in 58.44. Goh moved her earnings to $18,000 with her runner-up effort, while Loh now has $2,500 just from this stop. Goh has been much faster this year with a pair of 57-flats with a 57.02 in Berlin and a 57.07 in Beijing.

Men's 50 back
Russia's Stanislav Donets secured yet another sprint backstroke victory, this time with a 23.25 in the event. Japan's Junya Koga, who is Club Wolverine bound soon, touched second in 23.30 with Australia's Ashley Delaney picking up yet another third-place paycheck with a 23.48. Donets now has won $21,000 in cash earnings, while Delaney's regularity in the third-place position has pushed his tally to $8,500. Donets came up just a bit short of his top effort of 23.14 from Beijing with the win, but still managed to keep on winning backstroke titles.

Women's 200 fly
Hungary's Katinka Hosszu doubled up tonight for her fifth gold in Tokyo as she is getting back to her completely dominant ways on the Asian leg of the tour. She captured her 35th individual gold medal with a 2:05.90 in the distance fly to move to $59,250 in earnings. Wingwoman Zsuzsanna Jakabos placed second in 2:06.79 for her third silver of the meet, pushing her winnings to $29,750. Japans' Misuzu Yabu touched third in 2:07.47. That's Hosszu's third time under 2:06 this circuit, having already been 2:05.77 and 2:05.78 earlier in the tour.

Men's 200 IM
Japan's Daiya Seto increased his male-leading earning tally to $26,000 in record-breaking fashion with a 1:52.48 to win the event. That swim bested the Japanese record of 1:53.67 set by Kosuke Hagino on the Tokyo stop last year, and moved Seto up to seventh all time in the event's history. South Africa's Darian Townsend took second in 1:53.30, while Hagino placed third in 1:53.76. Townsend now has $21,250 in earnings, while Hagino has $4,000 in just a few tour stops. Townsend had had the best time on the tour this year with a 1:53.25, but Seto blew right through that time this evening.

Women's 400 free
A bit of the luster fell off Katinka Hosszu's dominant outing in Tokyo thus far, but a runner-up paycheck from a 4:05.22 to 4:05.33 touchout loss to New Zealand's Melissa Ingram is still enough to assuage any regrets. Meanwhile, Australia's Alanna Bowles finished third in 4:07.34. Hosszu cleared $60K with the second-place finish, now standing at a jaw-dropping $60,250 in earnings thus far. Ingram is up to $14,500, a pretty stout amount in her own right. The times paled in comparison to previous strong efforts this year, including a near world record 3:54.93 from Camille Muffat already this year. China's Shao Yiwen won in Beijing with a 4:00.56 that just missed the Chinese record.

Men's 50 free
Trinidad and Tobago's George Bovell is making 20-point routine as he captured the splash-and-dash triumph in 20.94 tonight. USA's Anthony Ervin touched second in 21.15, while Japan's Kenta Ito took third in 21.48. That's Bovell's fifth time under 21 seconds on the circuit en route to $17,500 in earnings. Ervin has pushed his earning tally to $13,750 with his routine sprint free podiums, while Ito joined the moneymakers for the first time. Ito's been faster with a 31st-ranked Japanese record of 21.25 from the Tokyo stop last year.

Women's 200 breast
Japan's Rie Kaneto and Denmark's Rikke Moller Pedersen each broke 2:19 for the first time on the circuit this year as Kaneto won 2:18.38 to 2:18.42. Japan's Mio Motegi placed third in 2:19.48. Kaneto moved to $10,000 with her victory, while Pedersen earned her third silver of the meet for $3,000. Motegi is up to $4,500 overall. Prior to tonight, Kaneto and Sally Foster were the only swimmers under 2:20 on the tour with Kaneto beating Foster 2:19.33 to 2:19.96 in Beijing. Kaneto and Pedersen have more in the tank with the third and fourth fastest times all time, 2:16.66 and 2:16.73.

Women's 100 IM
Great Britain's Sophie Allen raced by Hungary's Katinka Hosszu for the win, 59.50 to 59.80, while Australia's Kotuku Ngawati also broke 1:00 in the sprint medley with a third-place 59.90. Allen increased her winnings to $7,000 with the conquest, while Hosszu moved to $61,250 as she clinched her fifth gold and second silver medal of the Tokyo stop. Allen lowered her lifetime best from 59.67 at the Berlin stop last year, and is the top time this year bettering the 59.69 from Hosszu at the Moscow stop. Hosszu has cleared 1:00 three times this year now.

Men's 200 back
Japan's Yuki Shirai nipped the Japanese record in the distance dorsal with a winning time of 1:49.69. That swim eclipsed the 1:49.78 set by Ryosuke Irie at the Japanese Short Course Championships in 2011, and moved Shirai up to 12th all time in the event. Australia's Ashley Delaney, who stands 11th with a 1:49 of his own, placed second tonight in 1:52.14, while Japan's Hayate Matubara took third in 1:52.32. Shirai had the previous top time on the tour this year with a 1:49.94 from Berlin that had just missed Irie's record. Shirai now has $7,750 in earnings, while Delaney is up to $9,500 with a rare second-place finish instead of his customary third-place performance.

Women's 50 fly
Denmark's Jeanette Ottesen Gray clocked the fastest sprint fly on the circuit this year with a 25.48, while The Netherlands' Inge Dekker took second in 25.64. Japan's Masako Kuroki finished third in 26.57. Gray bettered the 25.56 clocked by Therese Alshammar on the Doha stop, and was about half-a-second off her fourth-ranked lifetime best of 24.92.

Mixed 200 free relay
After a pair of disqualifications on early takeoffs from the anchor legs of Chukyo University and China that cost the two teams a 1-2 finish with 1:33s, Waseda's Takuya Amagai (23.05), Ren Sato (25.73), Akane Hoshi (26.58) and Katsumi Nakamura (21.76) won the mixed relay event in 1:37.12. NEC Green's Maho Takiguchi (25.56), Syunya Satou (22.98), Hiroki Katou (22.47) and Manae Sasaki (26.62) finished second in 1:37.63. Central Meguro's Yugo Kawamata (23.02), Takuya Makita (23.68), Misato Yamazaki (25.63) and Rio Wakahoi (25.97) placed third in 1:38.30.

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