Katinka Hosszu Doubles Up at Salnikov Cup With Limited Schedule

SAINT PETERSBURG, Russia, December 21. AFTER deciding to throttle back her original attempt at an amazing nine events in one day, Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu pulled off a double this afternoon at the Salnikov Cup.

The Cup lost a bit of its star power with Vlad Morozov pulling out of the meet, and shutting down for the rest of the year. Morozov confirmed with Swimming World that he needed some rest after a busy schedule.

Swimming started when Belarus’ Aliaksandra Herasimenia clipped Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom for the women’s 100 freestyle victory, 52.06 to 52.16. That time shot Herasimenia to fifth in the world rankings this year, while Sjostrom already owned the fourth-ranked 51.93 from the Moscow stop of the FINA World Cup. Veronika Popova placed third in 53.13, edging Inge Dekker (53.23) and Rozaliya Nasretdinova (53.23) in the process.

Russia’s Danila Izotov nearly beat his third-ranked season best of 1:41.70 from the European Short Course Championships with a 1:41.77 to smash the field in the men’s 200 free. Nikita Lobintsev checked in with a second-place 1:43.12, off his fifth-ranked 1:42.33 from Herning, while Mikhail Polishchuk rounded out the top three in 1:43.81.

Yuliya Efimova rattled her world record in the 50 breast with a sizzling 28.77. That swim just missed her 28.71 from the Tokyo stop of the FINA World Cup this year. Valentina Artemyeva raced into second in 30.56, while Anastasia Chaun picked up third-place honors in 31.35.

Cameron van der Burgh followed up his 50 breast win yesterday with a 57.01 to top the men’s 100 breast finale tonight. That shot him to third in the world rankings behind only Fabio Scozzoli (56.49) and Daniel Gyurta (56.79). Australia’s Christian Sprenger picked up second with a time of 58.33, while Kirill Strelnikov finished third in 58.53.

Yana Martynova dominated the women’s 400 IM with a 4:34.05, while Victoria Malyutina placed second in 4:38.38. Anastasia Ivanenko snared third overall in 4:39.99. Evgeny Korotyshkin followed with a 49.43 to win the men’s 100 fly, and move to fourth in the world rankings. Belraus’ Yauhen Tsurkin took second in 50.79, while Poland’s Konrad Czerniak picked up third in 50.87.

Alexandra Papusha topped the women’s 100 back in 58.42 with Hilary Caldwell of Canada taking second in 59.26. Polina Lapshina hit the wall third in 59.34. Vitaly Melnikov then stopped the clock in 23.74 to win the men’s 50 back, while Pavel Kosmynin (23.99) and Vitaly Borisov (24.01) took second and third.

In her first swim of the meet, Hosszu obliterated the field in the women’s 200 fly with a 2:02.21. That time lowered her third-ranked season best of 2:03.05 from the Eindhoven stop of the FINA World Cup, and moved her to second in the world behind only Mireia Belmonte’s 2:01.52 from the European Short Course Championships. Maria Arsenyeva finished well behind in 2:11.38 for second, while Anastasia Lyazeva took third in 2:11.42.

Esmee Vermeulen of The Netherlands pocketed the women’s 400 free title in 4:07.51, while Arina Openysheva took second in 4:07.72. Maria Mikhalova wound up taking third overall in 4:13.40. Andrey Grechin then won the Morozov-less men’s 50 free in 21.48. Evgeny Lagunov touched second in 21.51 with Evgeny Sedov taking third in 21.86.

Ganna Dzerkal of Ukraine then put up a 2:21.78 to top the women’s 200 breast with Vitalina Simonova taking second in 2:22.54. Chaun claimed her second podium of the night with a 2:24.30 for third-place honors in the longer distance breaststroke event after taking third in the sprint earlier in the night.

Canada’s Ryan Cochrane turned back all challengers in the men’s 1500 free with a dominant 14:40.22 to win the distance freestyle event for the day. This is the key event for the Salnikov Cup with double prize money in honor of Vladimir Salnikov, one of the best distance freestylers of all time. Sergey Strelnikov took second in 14:56.11, while Aleksei Solpekovskii earned third in 14:57.14.

Hosszu doubled up with a 58.16 to win the women’s 100 IM. That’s just more than half-a-second off her world record of 57.45 from the Berlin stop of the FINA World Cup. Yuliya Efimova took down a Russian record with her second-place time of 59.19, while The Netherlands’ Wendy van der Zanden hit the wall third in 59.74.

Andrey Shabasov posted a 1:52.99 to top the men’s 200 back as the meet began to come to a close. Anton Anchin clocked a 1:54.51 for second, while Mikhail Zvyagin wound up third in 1:54.70. Sarah Sjostrom, who already stands second in the world with a 24.90 from the European Short Course Championships, easily won the women’s 50 fly in 25.07. Inge Dekker (25.33) and Rozaliya Nasretdinova (26.05) rounded out the podium.

The Russians closed out the mixed 200 medley relay with a winning time of 1:38.84. Andrey Shabasov (24.09), Evgeny Korotyshkin (22.30), Yuliya Efimova (28.60) and Rozaliya Nasretdinova (23.85) closed out the two day meet with a win. The squad missed Vlad Morozov’s presence as the Russians might have had a world record in play with him on the team.

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