Katinka Hosszu of Hungary (centre) celebrates her gold medal win in the Women’s 200m Butterfly, with bronze medallist Lok Kin Chan of Hong Kong (left) and her compatriot silver medallist Zsuzsanna Jakabos at the Swimming World Cup, at Hamad Aquatic Center in Doha yesterday. CENTRE: South Africa’s Chad Le Clos celebrates his win in the Men’s 100m Butterfly. RIGHT: Cameron Van Der Burgh of South Africa smiles after his triumph in the Men’s 100m Breaststoke. BOTTOM: Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani (left) , Secretary General of the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) is seen with the Qatar Swimming Association (QSA) President’s Khalil Al Jaber. The next leg of the Swimming World Cup will take place in Stockholm on October 13 and 14. PICTURES BY: ABDUL BASIT
BY DENZIL PINTO
DOHA: Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu continued her impressive form at the Fina/Arena Swimming World Cup (SWC) with four medals in Doha yesterday.
On the second-day of the competition, the 23-year-old won the 400m Individual Medley, 200m Butterfly, 400m Freestyle and 100m Individual Medley at the Hamad Aquatic Center.
The 5 foot 7 swimmer has now won $22,000 in prize money, after winning seven golds and one bronze haul in the first leg of the SWC in Dubai. Hosszu departs Doha with seven gold medals.
In the Hungarian’s first event, only three swimmers swam the event. Nevertheless, it was far from an easy win for Hosszu, as compatriot Zsuzsanna Jakabos pushed her all the way in a thrilling race to finish in a time of 4:30:03.
Kateryn Meaklim of South Africa finished third. Afterwards, Jakabos relished the races against Hosszu. She said: “It is good to race against Katinka of course. I have some more events to go and will try my best to get gold.”
Half-an-hour later, the Hungarian recorded a time of 2:09:31 in the 200m Butterfly. She took advantage by beating Jakabos, who finished in second place. Lok Kin Chan finished in third place, to grab a share of the prize money at the Doha meeting.
With two victories in the bag, Hosszu was determined to make it a hat-trick of golds on the night in the 400m Freestyle. Winning with a time of 4:04:24, she achieved her feat, holding off challengers Melissa Ingram of New Zealand and Daryna Zevina of Ukraine. It was the first time in the evening that Hosszu faced a full final field.
In her final meeting of the evening, Hosszu showed no sign of fatigue, finishing the 100m Individual Medley in an astonishing time of 59:74 seconds. Zsuzsanna finished in second place, whilst Britta Steffen of Germany, who won the 100m Freestyle earlier, finished third.
South Africa also had a reason to celebrate after Cameron Van Der Burgh, Chad Le Clos, Darian Townsend won their races. Van Der Burgh won the 100m Breaststroke with an impressive time of 57.22.
The South African fans at the Hamad Aquatic Center cheered loudly during the duration of the races and showed their delight with the wins. The London Games gold medallist edged Glenn Synders of New Zealand, and Daiya Seto of Japan, who finished in second and third places respectively.
“I don’t think I will top the leaderboard. But I have cashed in here with some gold medals. I reckon Le Clos or Kenneth will win,” said Van Der Burgh
His compatriot Chad Le Clos, who was beaten by Seto in Saturday’s 200m Butterfly, defended his Dubai win in the 100m Butterfly.
The 20-year-old recorded a time of 49.60 seconds, beating Evgeny Korotyshkin of Russia and Thomas Shields. After the race, Le Clos said: “I wasn’t feeling good this morning after last night. I only got one hour of sleep but I was positive I was going to win this. I just wanted to win.”
In the 200m Individual Medley, Townsend held off Laszlo Cesh and Seto to win with a time of 1:53:75.
Elsewhere, veteran Therese Alshammar triumphed in the 50m Freestyle. In the morning session, Qatari swimmers Walid Daloul, Abudulla Al Yehari and Naser Hassan, Abulrahman Al Ishaq and Omar Omar and Abdulrahman Al Kuwari missed out on qualification for the finals session. THE PENINSULA
