The opening day of the FINA World Cup in Singapore was an exercise in urgency for cluster leader Cate Campbell (AUS) and Vladimir Morozov (RUS).
Both need to win three events and have one of the top three performances of the meet to hold off their prime challengers and they were both ready:
● Campbell won the women’s 50 m Free in a speedy 24.02, a mark only she (24.00) and Sarah Sjostrom (SWE: 23.78) have bettered this year. She earned a sensational 956 points on the FINA table for the race, well ahead of the 880 points that Katinka Hosszu (HUN) got for winning the 200 m Fly in 2:07.07.
But there are two days left; if both win three races and Hosszu can finish ahead of Campbell on the points table, she will win the cluster and the $50,000 first prize.
● Morozov won the men’s 50 m Free in 21.27, a lifetime best and moving him from 18th to 10th on the all-time list and no. 2 for 2019. He earned 909 points for the effort.
He needed to, as American challenger Andrew Wilson won the 100 m Breast in 58.93, a season’s best and worth 880 points on the FINA table. If both win three events, Wilson has to finish first on the FINA performance list for this meet and Morozov would have to be third for Wilson to win the cluster.
Russia’s Vitalina Simonova continued her amazing endurance performance, entering four of the five events and actually winning – for the second straight meet – the 200 m Breaststroke, defeating American Breeja Larson. Summaries for day one:
FINA World Cup no. 3
Singapore (SGP) ~ 15-17 August 2019
(Full results here)
Men
50 m Free: 1. Vladimir Morozov (RUS), 21.27; 2. Michael Andrew (USA), 21.78; 3. Santo Condorelli (ITA), 22.21.
400 m Free: 1. Danas Rapsys (LTU), 3:45.59; 2. Henning Muhlleitner (GER), 3:52.12; 3. Ben Roberts (AUS), 3:53.27.
200 m Back: 1. Mitch Larkin (AUS), 1:56.60; 2. Tristan Hollard (AUS), 1:58.39; 3. Jorden Merrilees (AUS), 1:59.98.
100 m Breast: 1. Andrew Wilson (USA), 58.93; 2. Nicolo Martinenghi (ITA), 59.58; 3. Andrius Sidlauskas (LTU), 1:00.08.
100 m Fly: 1. Grant Irvine (AUS), 51.26; 2. Szebasztian Szabo (HUN), 51.28; 3. Giles Smith (USA), 52.23.
Women
50 m Freestyle: 1. Cate Campbell (AUS), 24.02; 2. Michelle Coleman (SWE), 24.65; 3. Holly Barratt (AUS), 24.80.
400 m Free: 1. Maddy Gough (AUS), 4:08.09; 2. Erica Sullivan (USA), 4:09.28; 3. Moesha Johnson (AUS), 4:13.55.
50 m Backstroke: 1. Barratt (AUS), 27.95; 2. Stephanie Au (HKG), 28.16; 3. Emily Seebohm (AUS), 28.18.
200 m Breast: 1. Vitalina Simonova (RUS), 2:25.65; 2. Breeja Larson (USA), 2:28.75; 3. Phiangkhwan Pawapotako (THA), 2:33.67.
200 m Fly: 1. Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 2:07.07; 2. Zsuzsanna Jakabos (HUN), 2:07.48; 3. Jing Wen Quah (SGP), 2:10.26.