World Cup, Dubai: Chad Le Clos Triples on Night One

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, October 7. The first night of short course meter finals is complete at the FINA World Cup stop in Dubai.

The big winners for the night proved to be South Africa's Chad Le Clos ($4,500), Germany's Marco Koch ($3,500) and Austria's Dinko Jukic ($3,000) on the men's side. Meanwhile, Sweden's Petra Granlund ($2,500), Ukraine's Daryna Zevina ($2,500) and China's Wang Junyao ($2,000) earned the most money among the women.

Men's 100 free
Kenya's Jason Dunford cashed the first big check of the 2011 FINA World Cup series with a victory in the men's 100 free. Dunford, who made waves this summer after publicly disagreeing with Cesar Cielo getting off with a warning after a positive doping test, picked up the win today in 47.95. Hungary's Krisztian Takacs placed second in 48.32, while Hong Kong's David Wong Kai Wai took third in 48.57.

UAE's Tiago Ferrao (49.82) and Velimir Stjepanovic (49.89) placed fourth and fifth, while Sweden's Gustav Lejdstroem earned sixth in 51.35. UAE's Kevin Riazanov (52.20) and Stefan Sorak (52.36) rounded out the championship field.

Women's 200 free
China's Wang Shijia clipped Sweden's Petra Granlund, 1:56.76 to 1:57.00, for the $1500 prize in the event. Honk Kong's Sze Hang Yu rounded out the podium with a third-place time of 1:57.08. China's Li Yue also cleared 2:00 for a fourth-place finish of 1:58.22.

Sweden's Celine Bertrand took fifth in 2:03.24, while Singapore's Jing Wen Tao (2:06.33) and UAE's Gabriella Austin (2:12:73) also competed in the finale. UAE's Rhea Castelino scratched the finale.

Men's 50 breast
Germany's Marco Koch raced to the finish in the sprint breast with a top time of 27.51. South Africa's Giulio Zorzi touched second in 27.64, while USA's Nelson Westby cashed the last check in the event with a third-place time of 27.90.

UAE's Mubarak Al Beshar (28.58), Syria's Azad Al-Barazi (28.97), India's Jayaprakash Agnishwar (29.21), UAE's Obaid Ahmed Al Jasmi (29.39) and Singapore's Jinyang Joel Tan (29.48) put up the rest of the times in the finale.

Women's 100 breast
China's Liu Xiaoyu put up a strong time of 1:04.79 to win the event, and stand ranked second in the event this season. Leisel Jones clocked the top time of the short course season with a 1:04.02 in Australia in July. China's Fan Rong placed a distant second with a 1:05.92, while Russia's Yuliya Efimova cashed in with a third-place time of 1:06.42.

China's Wu Yuele (1:07.03), Germany's Dorothea Brandt (1:08.41), Sweden's Rebecca Ejdervik (1:08.51), Germany's Caroline Ruhnau (1:08.71) and UAE's Hannah Taleb (1:18.10) also competed in the championship.

Men's 400 IM
South Africa's Chad Le Clos snared the gold medal in the distance medley with a top time of 4:04.58, easily the top time of the early short course season. Federico Turrini had owned the previous top time with a 4:06.26 in Italy in August. Austria's Dinko Jukic finished second in the event with a 4:05.65, while Germany's Marco Koch pushed his total earnings to $2,000 with a third-place time of 4:12.27.

Ukraine's Maksym Shemberev (4:12.78), Russia's Semen Makovich (4:17.48), India's Aravind Mani (4:43.10) and UAE's Alistair Allan (4:48.38) also swam in the finale. Kuwait's Sooud Altayyar scratched.

Women's 100 fly
China kept producing strong finishes in the women's events in the early going of day one finals as Wang Junyao grabbed the title in 58.05. Sweden's Petra Granlund earned her second runner-up spot of the night with a 58.70 to move to $2,000 in cash prizes, while teammate Louise Hansson placed third in 59.84.

Slovenia's Spela Bohinc (1:03.94), UAE's Gwen Van Beek (1:07.16), UAE's Anouque Berghuis (1:07.79) and UAE's Caitlin Benstead (1:12.25) made up the rest of the championship field.

Men's 100 back
Japan's Masafumi Yamaguchi captured the gold medal with a winning time of 52.28, while Brazil's Nelson Silva Jr. placed second in 53.60. Russia's Evgeny Korotyshkin wound up third in 54.90.

Sweden's Kristian Kron (55.42), UAE's Mohammed Humaid Al Ghaferi (57.21), Syria's Ayman Klzie (58.64), Oman's Aiman Al Kulaibi (59.36) and India's Babu Pranam (1:01.14) comprised the other title contenders.

Women's 50 back
Japan went back-to-back in the backstrokes as Miyuki Takemura hit the wall in 27.12 to win the sprint back, touching out Ukraine's Daryna Zevina, who took second in 27.14. Czech's Simona Baumrtova placed third overall in 27.75.

The Netherlands' Ranomi Kromowidjojo (27.83) also cleared 30 seconds for a fourth-place finish. UAE's Gabriella Austin (31.02), Singapore's Jolene Tan Wei Lin (32.10), UAE's Jenny Balac (32.28) and UAE's Charlotte Lechner (32.34) placed fifth through eighth in the finale.

Men's 200 fly
South Africa's Chad Le Clos took the early money lead with his second gold medal, pushing his winnings to $3,000. He clocked a time of 1:52.55, smoking Austraia's Dinko Jukic (1:53.17) on the final turn heading home. Le Clos stands second in the early season rankings behind Christopher Wright's 1:52.45 from Australia in July. Jukic is third overall, and now has $2,000 in his pocket with his second runner-up finish. Russia's Andrey Tambovskiy rounded out the podium with a third-place 1:57.61.

UAE's Velimir Stjepanovic (1:57.74), Hong Kong's David Wong Kai Wai (2:00.73), Russia's Alexander Kudashev (2:01.68), Syria's Rami Anis (2:02.75) and Syria's Ayman Klzie (2:04.19) also swam in the finale.

Women's 200 IM
Japan began battling back against China's early surge of golds in the women's event as Izumi Kato produced Japan's second straight women's title with a 2:09.04 in the middle distance medley. She stands second in the early season rankings behind Ellen Fullerton's 2:08.24 from Australia in July. Czech's Barbora Zavadova touched second in 2:11.40, while Sweden's Petra Granlund cashed her third check of the evening with a third-place 2:13.09 to move to $2,500 on the night.

Russia's Yuliya Efimova (2:15.74), Slovenia's Tanja Smid (2:17.65), Singapore's Jing Wen Teo (2:26.61), UAE's Anouque Berghuis (2:31.46) and Pakistan's Lianna Swan (2:32.69) all posted times in the finale as well.

Men's 400 free
Italy's Samuel Pizzetti clinched the middle distance freestyle event in 3:45.45, well off his top time this season, a second-ranked 3:43.52 from August. Sweden's Gustav Lejdstroem finished second in 3:47.28, while Ukraine's Sergii Frolov placed third in 3:47.82.

Italy's Federico Colbertaldo (3:48.66), UAE's Stefan Sorak (4:02.07), UAE's Velimir Stjepanovic (4:05.07), UAE's Adam Ingledew (4:09.49) and UAE's Alistair Allan (4:19.86) all vied for the title as well.

Women's 50 free
In a Dutch shootout, Marleen Veldhuis touched out teammate Ranomi Kromowidjojo, 24.14 to 24.23, for the splash-and-dash triumph. Veldhuis jumped to the top of the early season rankings, ahead of Yolane Kukla's 24.22 from July, while Kromowidjojo moved to third. China's Wang Junyao earned her second check of the night with a third-place 24.85.

Germany's Dorothea Brandt (24.88), Hong Kong's Sze Hang Yu (25.46), Sweden's Louise Hansson (25.62), UAE's Gwen Van Beek (27.39) and UAE's Caitlin Benstead (27.55) also swam in the sprint free.

Women's 800 free
During prelims, only three swimmers competed in the women's distance event. Slovenia's Spela Bohinc (8:45.43) and Tanja Smid (9:17.58) as well as UAE's Anouque Berghuis (9:25.59) earned the easy money with top three checks as no one else competed.

Men's 200 breast
Germany's Marco Koch capped a profitable evening with a dominant victory in the distance breaststroke event. Koch clocked a 2:04.97, well ahead of Brenton Rickard's previously top-ranked 2:08.02 from the early season rankings. The victory gave Koch his second winner's check of the night, and pushed him to $3,500 for the evening. Russia's Semen Makovich placed second in 2:13.22, while USA's Nelson Westby finished third in 2:14.44, for his second third-place check of the night.

Syria's Azad Al-Barazi (2:15.86), India's Jayaprakash Agnishwar (2:22.03), Singapore's Aaron Teo (2:23.88), UAE's Mubarak Al Beshar (2:24.15) and UAE's Mohamed Shafee (2:26.32) picked up the rest of the championship swims.

Men's 100 IM
South Africa's Chad Le Clos closed out the show in the final 25 meters of the sprint medley en route to his third winner's check of the night. Le Clos stormed home with a 53.48 for the win, and pushed his cash winnings to $4,500. Austria's Dinko Jukic, who looked to be the clear winner before Le Clos turned on the afterburners, finished second with a 53.51 for his third runner-up check, giving him $3,000 for the night. Japan's Yuma Kosaka placed third overall with a 53.66.

Japan's Masafumi Yamaguchi (54.12), UAE's Obaid Al Jasmi (57.51), UAE's Tiago Ferrao (58.14), UAE's Mubarak Al Beshar (1:02.53) and India's Jayaprakash Agnishwar (1:02.58) rounded out the championship heat.

Women's 200 back
With just five women competing, the money spots were open to anyone. Ukraine's Daryna Zevina won the distance dorsal in 2:02.94 to jump to the top of the early season rankings. Roberta Ioppi had the early top time with a 2:05.91 from August. The win gave Zevina $2,500 for the night. Czech's Simona Baumrtova (2:07.25) and Barbora Zavadova (2:07.30) finished second and third.

Japan's Miyuki Takemura (2:08.32) and UAE's Anouque Berghuis (2:26.31) finished fourth and fifth to complete women's swimming for the night.

Men's 50 fly
Kenya's Jason Dunford nearly provided a nice bookend to the night, winning the first and last events of the night. After winning the 100 free at the beginning of the night, Dunford looked to come through in the sprint fly, but drew a disqualification.

Ukraine's Andrii Govorov claimed the title in the finale with a 23.48, while Russia's Evgeny Korotyshkin posted a second-place 23.76. Russia's Andrey Tambovskiy finished third in 24.38.

UAE's Tiago Ferrao (24.76), UAE's Mohammed Humaid Al Ghaferi (25.03), Kenya's Ramadhan Vyombo (25.25) and UAE's Obaid Al Jasmi (26.63) made up the rest of the field.

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