SWIMMING: Morozov wins three, sets Short Course World Record in World Cup 3

Russia's two-time World Cup champ Vladimir Morozov (Photo: Bob Stanton)

Russia’s Vladimir Morozov, who won the 2016 FINA World Cup men’s division thanks to a world record in the 200 m Individual Medley, broke his own mark on the way to three wins at the first short-course (25 m) World Cup, in Eindhoven (NED).

Morozov blasted out quick in the 100 m Medley and just beat his 2016 mark of 50.30 with a final time of 50.26, more than a second ahead of runner-up Daiya Seto (JPN: 51.40). The record performance is worth a $10,000 bonus as well as extra points in the cluster and overall money races. He also won the 50-100 m Freestyles to maximize his points – 80 in this meet alone – and after three events in the series, Morozov is the overall leader with 164 points.

He took the spotlight away from the usual stars, Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom and Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu. Both won four events to maximize their event points and Sjostrom got a bonus for the second-best performance on the FINA scoring table for an extra 18 points. She leads the overall standings with 176, to 126 for Hosszu and 93 for breaststroker Yuliya Efimova (RUS),

Hosszu had a light meet by her standards, competing in “just” six events after having been in 15 in the last meet in Doha. She won four and took bronze medals in two to increase her seasonal medal total to an amazing 27 (including two on relays).

There were other noteworthy performances, including a sweep of the men’s Backstroke events by Mitch Larkin (AUS) and two wins each from Kirill Prigoda (RUS) in the Breaststrokes, Clad le Clos (RSA) in the Fly events and Japan’s Daiya Seto in the Medleys.

In the women’s events, Efimova won the 100-200 m Breaststroke events, China’s Jianjiahe Wang set World Junior Records in the 400-800 m Frees and American Kathleen Baker won the 100-200 m Backstroke events.

Prize money in this meet was $1,500-1,000-500-400-300-200 for the top six places. The tour continues next week in Budapest (HUN); how many events will Hosszu try in front of her home fans? Summaries from Eindhoven:

FINA World Cup no. 3
Eindhoven (NED) ~ 28-30 September 2018
(Full results here)

Men

50 m Freestyle: 1. Vladimir Morozov (RUS), 20.69; 2. Bradley Tandy (RSA), 21.19; 3. Blake Pieroni (USA), 21.34. Also: 6. Michael Andrew (USA), 21.53.

100 m Free: 1. Morozov (RUS), 45.69; 2. Pieroni (USA), 46.45; 3. Vladislav Grinev (RUS), 46.58.

200 m Free: 1. Pieroni (USA), 1:41.83; 2. Le Clos (RSA), 1:42.20; 3. Mack Horton (AUS), 1:43.63.

400 m Free: 1. Horton (AUS), 3:39.52; 2. Pieroni (USA), 3:41.79; 3. Poul Zellmann (GER), 3:43.50.

1,500 m Free: 1. Maksym Shemberev (AZE), 14:45.17; 2. Ziao Qiu (CHN), 14:58.08; 3. Zellmann (GER), 14:59.01.

50 m Backstroke: 1. Mitch Larkin (AUS), 23.34; 2. Morozov (RUS), 23.42; 3. Kosuke Matsui (JPN), 23.57. Also: 4. Andrew (USA), 23.73.

100 m Back: 1. Larkin (AUS), 50.08; 2. Ryosuke Irie (JPN), 50.22; 3. Grigory Tarasevich (RUS), 50.79.

200 m Back: 1. Larkin (AUS), 1:49.75; 2. Irie (JPN), 1:50.15; 3. Radoslaw Kawecki (POL), 1:52.42.

50 m Breaststroke: 1. Felipe Lima (BRA), 25.92; 2. Peter Stevens (SLO), 26.10; 3. Prigoda (RUS), 26.30. Also: 4. Nic Fink (USA), 26.49; 5. Andrew (USA), 26.51.

100 m Breast: 1. Kirill Prigoda (RUS), 56.88; 2. Anton Chupkov (RUS), 57.01; 3. Lima (BRA), 57.14.

200 m Breast: 1. Prigoda (RUS), 2:01.59; 2. Chupkov (RUS), 2:01.70; 3. Daiya Seto (JPN), 2:04.,19. Also: 4. Fink (USA), 2:04.95.

50 m Butterfly: 1. Nicholas Santos (BRA), 22.08; 2. Clad le Clos (RSA), 22.09; 3. Morozov (RUS), 22.42. Also: 5. Andrew (USA), 22.78.

100 m Fly: 1. Le Clos (RSA), 49.56; 2. Santos (BRA), 50.22; 3. Mehdy Metella (FRA), 50.31. Also: 8. Andrew (USA), 52.34.

200 m Fly: 1. Le Clos (RSA), 1:51.09; 2. Yuya Yajima (JPN), 1:51.87; 3. Joeri Verlinden (NED), 1:53.88.

100 m Medley: 1. Morozov (RUS), 50.26 (World Short Course Record; old, 50.30, Morozov, 2016); 2. Seto (JPN), 51.40; 3. Andrew (USA), 51.76. Also: 7. Fink (USA), 53.18.

200 m Medley: 1. Seto (JPN), 1:51.09; 2. Irie (JPN), 1:55.61; 3. Prigoda (RUS), 1:55.71. Also: 4. Fink (USA), 1:55.87.

400 m Medley: 1. Seto (JPN), 3:57.25; 2. David Verraszto (HUN), 4:03.14; 3. Shemberev (RUS), 4:06.98. Also: 7. Fink (USA), 4:13.25.

Women

50 m Freestyle: 1. Ranomi Kromowidjojo (NED), 23.26; 2. Sarah Sjostrom (SWE), 23.67; 3. Femke Heemskerk (NED), 23.77. Also: 7. Kelsi Dahlia (USA), 24.40.

100 m Free: Sjostrom (SWE), 51.21; 2. Kromowidjojo (NED), 51.42; 3. Heemskerk (NED), 51.73. Also: 6. Dahlia (USA), 53.18.

200 m Free: 1. Sjostrom (SWE), 1:52.25; 2. Heemskerk (NED), 1:52.98; 3. Jianjiage Wang (CHN), 1:53.40. Also: 4. Margalis (USA), 1:54.30; … 7. Leah Smith (USA), 1:56.37.

400 m Free: 1. Jianjiahe Wang (CHN), 3:54.63 (World Junior Short Course Record); 2. L. Smith (USA), 4:01.31; 3. Anna Egorova (RUS), 4:04.65.

800 m Free: 1. Wang (CHN), 8:03.86 (World Junior Record); 2. L. Smith (USA), 8:15.42; 3. Egorova (RUS), 8:21.83.

50 m Backstroke: 1. Etiene Medeiros (BRA), 26.07; 2. Kromowidjojo (NED), 26.10; 3. Kira Toussaint (NED), 26.13. Also: 6. Kathleen Baker (USA), 26.44.

100 m Back: 1. Baker (USA), 55.91; 2. Seebohm (AUS), 56.07; 3. Hosszu (HUN), 56.32.

200 m Back: 1. Baker (USA), 2:00.85; 2. Seebohm (AUS), 2:01.91; 3. Hosszu (HUN), 2:03.76.

50 m Breaststroke: 1. Alia Atkinson (JAM), 29.18; 2. Yuliya Efimova (RUS), 29.50; 3. Molly Hannis (USA), 30.01.

100 m Breast: 1. Yuliya Efimova (RUS), 1:03.41; 2. Atkinson (JAM), 1:03.74; 3. Hannis (USA), 1:05.65. Also: 6. Melanie Margalis (USA), 1:06.25.

200 m Breast: 1. Efimova (RUS), 2:15.62; 2. Vitalina Simonova (RUS), 2:19.65; 3. Jessica Vall (ESP), 2:20.06. Also: 4. Margalis (USA), 2:20.29.

50 m Butterfly: 1. Sjostrom (SWE), 24.61; 2. Kromowidjojo (NED), 24.67; 3. Dahlia (USA), 25.14.

100 m Fly: 1. Sjostrom (SWE), 54.91; 2. Dahlia (USA), 55.21; 3. Yufei Zhang (CHN), 55.87.

200 m Fly: 1. Hosszu (HUN), 2:02.87; 2. Zhang (CHN), 2:03.09; 3. Dahlia (USA), 2:03.31.

100 m Medley: 1. Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 57.44; 2. Baker (USA), 58.14; 3. Emily Seebohm (AUS), 58.36. Also: 4. Sjostrom (SWE), 58.42; … 6. Margalis (USA), 59.05.

200 m Medley: 1. Hosszu (HUN), 2:05.06; 2. Margalis (USA), 2:06.04; 3. Seebohm (AUS), 2:06.82.

400 m Medley: 1. Hosszu (HUN), 4:25.15; 2. Yul Ohashi (JPN), 4:27.42; 3. Min Zhou (CHN), 4:30.26. Also: 5. L. Smith (USA), 4:35.38.

Mixed

4×50 m Freestyle: 1. Netherlands (Puts, Stolk, Heemskerk, Kromowidjojo), 1:29.90; 2. United States (Andrew, Pieroni, Baker, Dahlia), 1:30.88; 3. Russia, 1:31.96.

4×50 m Medley: 1. Netherlands (Toussaint, Kamminga, Kromowidjojo, Puts), 1:38.64; 2. Russia, 1:39.00; 3. United States (Andrew, Hannis, Dahlia, Pieroni), 1:39.14.