Five Storylines: FINA World Cup, Junior Pan Pacs Continue This Weekend

Photo Credit: Qatar Swimming

BOULDER, Colorado, August 28. ONLY two major meets are on the schedule for this weekend – the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Maui and the FINA World Cup in Dubai – but there are and will be plenty of headliners out of each of the two meets. Here are five storylines to watch for at both.

1. FINA World Cup: The Katinka Hosszu Show

After only a few days to recover from the European Championships, Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu is back at it again as she attempts to track down another FINA World Cup series title. As swim fans have become accustomed to seeing, Hosszu entered nine events at the first stop in Doha and then set world records in three of those events, sweeping all three of the individual medley world records over short course meters. The Doha stop of the series concluded today, but the Dubai stop is already on the horizon, scheduled for Sunday and Monday. How many more world records can Hosszu set? Only time will tell.

2. FINA World Cup: Can Le Clos Repeat?

South Africa’s Chad Le Clos won the FINA World Cup series title on the men’s side last year, and so far appears to be well on his way to another title. Le Clos amassed 54 points this week in Doha for a six-point lead over Australia’s Thomas Fraser-Holmes. Le Clos picked up three wins in Doha and just missed the short course world record in the 100 fly; he’ll have plenty more chances to break some world records in the remaining six stops of the circuit.

3. FINA World Cup: Multi-Event Winners

Hosszu and Le Clos weren’t the only swimmers to win multiple events in Doha. Inge Dekker of The Netherlands, Thomas Fraser-Holmes of Australia, Alia Atkinson of Jamaica and Mireia Belmonte Garcia of Spain were only a handful of several swimmers to win two, three or four individual events in Doha. If the multi-event winning trend continues this weekend in Dubai and beyond, several other swimmers will definitely put themselves in the mix for the overall series title.

4. Junior Pan Pacific Championships: The Race for the Team Title

Not all international meets have a team title at stake, but the Junior Pan Pacific Championships do, and the winner earns bragging rights among the Pacific Rim nations. After the first night of finals, the United States leads the combined team standings with 115 points, followed by Japan with 56, Australia with 52 and Canada with 51. New Zealand is a distant fifth with 11 points. The Americans look to be in cruise control for the win, but it will be interesting to see who emerges from the Japan/Australia/Canada group to finish second.

5. Junior Pan Pacific Championships: The Battle For The Top Two

At both the senior level and Junior Pan Pacific Championships, countries are limited to only two swimmers in the championship final and one swimmer in the consolation final. While this doesn’t present a problem for every nation, countries with a lot of depth have swimmers who would have medaled finishing ninth, in the consolation heat. In some cases, as many as five swimmers from one country may have a legitimate shot to win, but only two can advance to the final, which sets up an interesting competition within each team. Keep an eye on these scenarios as the meet continues through Sunday.

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