2015 FINA World Cup Beijing: Day One Finals Live Recap

Photo Courtesy: Todd Schmitz

Everything you need to follow along with finals live during the 2015 FINA World Cup Beijing. Hit refresh for the latest coverage.

Men’s 100 Freestyle

Katasumi Nakamura of Japan ran away with the first finals win of the night, posting a 48.60. Nakamura was actually second at the 50 wall behind He Jianbin of China, who flipped first in 23.69. Nakamura’s blistering final 50 made the difference though, coming home in 24.84. That was nearly a second faster than anyone else in the field.

Jianbin ended up second in 49.83 while Jiwen Cao was third in 49.91 just ahead of Australian Dan Smith (49.93) and Chinese swimmers Qiheng Xu (49.95) and Yongqing Lin (50.09). The rest of the field was comprised of Qibin Zhang (50.34) and Yang Shi (51.46).

Women’s 200 Freestyle

China’s Shen Duo upset top seed Iron Lady Katinka Hosszu and American phenom Missy Franklin to take the 200 freestyle in 1:56.47. Shen let Franklin and Hozzsu battle it out for the first 150 of the race, sitting just tenths behind at the 100 and 150 before coming home in a speedy 29.09. Hozzsu was second in 1:56.60 and Franklin was third in 1:57.39.

Behind Franklin was Zhang Yufei of China who took it out with Shen but fell back in the middle 100. She finished in 1:58.45. The rest of the final was Fang Yi (1:59.84), Guo Junjun (1:59.91), Li Liuyuxin (2:00.00) and Han Tingru (2:00.45).

Men’s 50 Breaststroke

Cameron Van Der Burgh continued his breaststroke dominance on the world cup tour by winning the 50 breaststroke by 7 tenths, touching in 27.03. Way back in second was Australian Tommy Sucipto in 27.79 followed by China’s Shi Weijia in 28.00.

Women’s 100 Breaststroke

Alia Atkinson took the women’s 100 breaststroke in 1:07.39. Atkinson took her race out in a very fast 31.17, well over a second faster than anyone else in the field, but faded down the home stretch with a 36.22 second 50. Shi Jinglin of China was second in 1:08.25 while American Micah Lawrence nabbed third in 1:08.81 after touching seventh at the 50 wall.

Just behind Lawrence was Zhang Xinyu , who touched second at the 50 wall in 32.49 before fading to her fourth place time of 1:08.89, just behind Lawrence. Xhang was followed by Vitalina Simonova (1:08.93), Zhang Jiaying (1:09.46), Minjie Sun (1:10.07) andHe Yun (1:10.19).

Women’s 100 Butterfly

Jeanette Ottensen, the second ranked swimmer in the 100 fly this year, capitalized on her top seed in the 100 butterfly to take the win in 57.97. It was a three-way race sat the 50 wall, with Ottesen splitting identical to Lu Ying (27.30) and only a touching ahead of Zhang Yufei (27.30).

But Ottesen pulled away in the second 50, coming home more than half a second from her closet competitors in 30.67. Zhang ended second in 58.63 with Lu grabbing third in 58.83. Notably, Iron Lady Katinka Hosszu finished eighth in 1:04.03, well off her sixth seed of 1:00.69. Hozzsu had previously finished second in the 200 freestyle just a few heats before her race.

Men’s 100 Backstroke

Austrailian Ashley Delaney picked up a win in the men’s 100 backstroke with a 54.36. Delaney led from start to finish, flipping at 26.44. Close at that 50 wall was Yuki Shirai from Japan. He was second at the 50 wall in 26.48 but faded down the stretch to capture second in 54.71.

In third was Marco Loughran from Great Britain in 55.96. The rest of the field was rounded out by Zhang Jie (56.17), Jin Yan (56.30), Yang Zhixian (56.64), Omar Pinzon Garcia (57.11), and Oleg Garasymovtych (57.68).

Women’s 50 Backstroke

Top seed Fu Yuanhui finished just ahead of second seed Emily Seebohm, touching in 27.55 to Seebohm’s 27.68. Yuanhui comes into the meet with the fastest time in the world in 27.11. Both swimmers were well ahead of the field, and we the only two to break the 28-second mark. Chen Jie of China was the closest competitor, finishing third in 28.25.

In her third swim of the evening, Katinka Hosszu finished fifth in 28.73, a slight drop from her prelims swim of 28.91. Franklin, in her second event of the evening, finished in a tie for seventh in 29.44, slightly off her prelims time of 29.10.

Men’s 200 Butterfly

Masato Sakai of Japan dominated the 200 butterfly field, winning by nearly two seconds in a 1:57.44. Sakai took the race out fast, splitting 25.56 and 55.53 at the 50 and 100, respectively before fading slightly in the last 100. In second was David Verraszto of Hungary in 1:59.20, followed by Wang Yizhe in 2:00.34.

Women’s 200 IM

In her fourth race during this finals sessions, Katinka Hosszu lit up the field in the 200 IM with a winning time of 2:10.44. Hosszu was fourth after the butterfly leg but made her move during the backstroke, turning first at the 100 and never relinquishing the lead for the rest of the race. Behind her was teammate Zsuzsanna Jakabos in 2:12.21 followed by Rika Omoto from Japan in 2:13.81.

Men’s 400 Freestyle

The men’s 400 free featured one of the closest and most exciting finishes of the night, with the top four all finishing within two-tenths of another. Australian Dan Smith came away with the victory in 3:51.45. He was followed by David Brandl (3:51.61), Jacob Hansford (3:51.62), and Masato Sakai (3:51.81).

All four were neck and neck through the entire race, with Hansford leading into the last wall by roughly a half second. But he couldn’t hold off Brandl and Smith, who came home in 27.93 and 27.95 respectively, with Smith just grabbing the touch at the finish.

Women’s 50 Freestyle

Cate Campbell of Australia dominated this 50 freestyle, posting an impressive 24.30 to take the win. Just behind her was sister Bronte Campbell in 24.53. The Campbell sisters were the only two swimmers in the field to break 25 seconds.

In third was Menghui Zhu in 25.01, followed closely by American Madison Kennedy in 25.08. Jeanette Ottesen grabbed fifth in her second swim of the night in 25.13, followed by Tingru Han (25.43), Yuting Tang (25.56) and Holly Barratt (25.85).

Men’s 200 Breaststroke

Feilin Mao of China had a very dynamic swim our of lane 3 to take the win in the 200 breaststroke in 2:10.95. Mao moved from eighth at the first 50 to fourth at the 100 to first at the 150, powering home in 33.26 to hold off his competitors and take the win. Cameron Van Der Burgh led through the first half of the race but couldn’t hold off Mao during the third 50, ultimately finishing second in 2:11.68. Zibei Yan of China was third in 2:11.97.

Women’s 200 Backstroke

Emily Seebohm used a crazy fast final 50 to take the win in the 200 backstroke, running down Katinka Hosszu and race leader through the 150 Missy Franklin to touch first in 2:09.22. Franklin was aggressive going out, leading at the 50 (30.95), 100 (1:04.12), and 150 (1:37.82) before Seebohm blasted a 30.99 closing split to run her down.

Hosszu also got Franklin by a tenth of a second on the finish, touching second in 2:10.26 to Franklin’s 2:10.36. That was the Iron Lady’s fifth finals swim of the evening following her win the 200 IM.

Men’s 50 Butterfly

China took the top four spots in the men’s 50 butterfly, with Li Zhuhao grabbing the top spot in 23.39. He was followed by teammates Xu Jiayu (23.66), Ning Zetao (24.09), and Yu Hexin (24.17).

Women’s 800 Freestyle

Wang Guoyue took the women’s 800 free by a healthy margin, touching first in 8:37.38. She was followed by Hungarians Katinka Hosszu and Zsuzsanna Jakabos who finished in 8:40.58 and 8:40.81, respectively.

Notably, this was Hosszu’s sixth finals swim of the night and her fourth podium appearance. This swim left her with two golds and two silvers from the first night of competition.

Men’s 400 IM

David Verraszto of Hungary came away with the win in the 400 IM with a dominating 4:16.36. This was Verraszto’s second podium finish of the night following his silver in the 200 butterfly earlier in the night. Verraszto was followed by a pair of young Australians, Tomas Elliot (4:20.90) and Kazimir Boskovic (4:21.70).

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