SWIMMING: King sweeps Efimova, but Flickinger and Hosszu also claim world leaders in Champs Series finale

U.S. swim star Hali Flickinger

The final day of the final stop in the inaugural FINA Champions Swim Series in Indianapolis saw three world-leading swims, and further confirmation that Lilly King owns the women’s breaststroke events:

● King completed a sweep of the 50-100-200 m Breaststroke swims, beating Russian Yulia Efimova for the third straight time, winning the 100 m event in a world-leading 1:05.13. King shot off the blocks with the fastest reaction time and had a 1.18-second lead over Efimova at the turn and even though she gave some back, won by daylight in 0.38. Very impressive.

● American Hali Flickinger, sitting second on the world list for 2019, faced list-leader Katinka Hosszu of Hungary in an interesting 1-2 showdown. But the race started with Kelsi Dahlia of the U.S. taking the first-lap lead, but then Flickinger picked up the pace on the third lap and built a body-length lead on Hosszu on her way to 2:06.40-2:07.87 victory. Flickinger had been the world leader earlier in the year and is now again.

● Hosszu was not to be denied in her specialty, however, the 200 m Medley. Already the world leader at 2:08.55, she fell well behind Canada’s Sydney Pickrem and was down by 1:29 seconds heading into the final lap of freestyle. But the jets came on and Hosszu clocked a very impressive 29.31 on her final 50 to overtake Pickrem with a few meters left and touch first at 2:08.50 – a new world leader – against 2:08.61 for Pickrem, moving the Canadian to no. 2 on the world list for 2019.

All together, there were five world leaders in the two days in Indianapolis:

Women/100 m Butterfly: 56.42, Sarah Sjostrom (SWE)
Women/50 m Breast: 29.63, Lilly King (USA)
Women/100 m Breast: 1:05.13, Lilly King (USA)
Women/200 m Butterfly: 2:06.40, Hali Flickinger (USA)
Women/200 m Medley: 2:08.50, Katinka Hosszu (HUN)

There were lots of other highlights and many of them had something to do with Swedish superstar Sjostrom. She had won four of her five events in Guangzhou, all five in Budapest and took 100 m Fly and 100 m Free on Friday.

She started well on Saturday with a win in the women’s 50 m Fly (25.48), but then ran into a buzzsaw named Pernille Blume (DEN) in the 50 m Free. Sjostrom had the lead heading to the wall, but Blume overcame her in the final 10 m and touched first, 24.08-24.18 in a seasonal best for Blume that continued her as no. 3 on the 2019 list.

Sjostrom went into the women’s 200 m Free at the end of the program with a chance to sweep the Champions Series in that event. But she looked tired and Canada’s Penny Oleksiak – who had been having a rough meet – dominated in winning in 1:57.18, with Leah Smith (USA) second and Sjostrom third.

Still, Sjostrom raced 15 times in three meet across three continents, winning 12 times and leading the money table with $142,000 for 12 wins, two seconds and a third.

Four swimmers came into Indianapolis with chances to complete a sweep of the Champions Swim Series – in eight events – and all four won their triple, with Sjostrom getting three:

Men/100 m Free: Pieter Timmers (BEL)
Men/200 m Breast: Anton Chupkov (RUS)
Men/50 m Fly: Nicholas Santos (BRA)

Women/100 m Free: Sarah Sjostrom (SWE)
Women/50 m Fly: Sjostrom
Women/100 m Fly: Sjostrom
Women/200 m Medley: Katinka Hosszu (HUN)

In the men’s racing, everyone was out to get double Olympic champ Ryan Murphy in the Backstroke events. American teammates Jacob Pebley (200 m) and Matt Grevers (50 m) managed to out-touch Murphy in both of Saturday’s events by 0.13 (Grevers) and 0.16 (Pebley).

Michael Andrew finally got a win in the Champions Swim Series, with a 51.87 effort in the 100 m Fly, out-touching Piero Codia (ITA), who finished in 52.22.

Prize money was $10,000-8,000-6,000-5,000 for the four placers in the individual events. Summaries:

FINA Champions Swim Series
Indianapolis, Indiana (USA) ~ 31 May-1 June 2019
(Full results here)

Men

50 m Freestyle: 1. Vladimir Morozov (RUS), 21.65; 2. Michael Andrew (USA), 21.86; 3. Bruno Fratus (BRA), 22.202; 4. Anthony Ervin (USA), 22.68.

100 m Free: 1. Pieter Timmers (NED), 48.36; 2. Morozov (RUS), 49.47; 3. Townley Haas (USA), 49.80; 4. Fratus (BRA), 49.90.

200 m Free: 1. Danas Rapsys (LTU), 1:45.56; 2. Haas (USA), 1:47.09; 3. Gabriele Detti (ITA), 1:47.29; 4. Pieter Timmers (BEL), 1:48.74.

400 m Free: 1. Detti (ITA), 3:46.13; 2. Rapsys (LTU), 3:46.23; 3. Mykhallo Romanchuk (UKR), 3:49.92; 4. Townley Haas (USA), 3:55.42.

50 m Backstroke: 1. Matt Grevers (USA), 24.78; 2. Ryan Murphy (USA), 24.91; 3. Robert Glinta (ROU), 24.99; 4. Morozov (RUS), 25.16.

100 m Back: 1. Murphy (USA), 52.99; 2. Grevers (USA), 53.37; 3. Jacob Pebley (USA), 53.40; 4. Glinta (ROU), 54.33.

200 m Back: 1. Pebley (USA), 1:56.35; 2. Murphy (USA), 1:56.51; 3. Grevers (USA), 1:59.47; 4. Rapsys (LTU), 2:14.02.

50 m Breaststroke: 1. Joao Gomes Jr. (BRA), 26.60; 2. Felipe Lima (BRA), 26.72; 3. Fabio Scozzoli (ITA), 27.40; 4. Andrew (USA), 27.42.

100 m Breast: 1. Cody Miller (USA), 59.26; 2. Arno Kamminga (NED), 59.72; 3. Anton Chupkov (RUS), 59.90; 4. Kevin Cordes (USA), 1:01.27.

200 m Breast: 1. Chupkov (RUS), 2:08.98; 2. Dmitriy Balandin (KAZ), 2:10.02; 3. Kamminga (NED), 2:10.04; 4. Josh Prenot (USA), 2:11.79.

50 m Butterfly: 1. Nicholas Santos (BRA), 22.94; 2. Andrew (USA), 23.11; 3. Andrii Govorov (UKR), 23.14; 4. Oleg Kostin (RUS), 23.29.

100 m Fly: 1. Andrew (USA), 51.87; 2. Piero Codia (ITA), 52.22; 3. Jack Conger (USA), 52.56; 4. Govorov (UKR), 54.49.

200 m Fly: 1. Chase Kalisz (USA), 1:56.91; 2. Justin Wright (USA), 1:57.93; 3. Zach Harting (USA), 1:58.83; 4. Conger (USA), 1:58.96.

200 m Medley: 1. Kalisz (USA), 1:58.41; 2. Andrew (USA), 2:00.08; 3. Josh Prenot (USA), 2:01.13; 4. Harting (USA), 2:08.33.

Women

50 m Freestyle: 1. Pernille Blume (DEN), 24.08; 2. Sarah Sjostrom (SWE), 24.18; 3. Ranomi Kromowidjojo (NED), 24.56; 4. Farida Osman (EGY), 25.08.

100 m Free: 1. Sjostrom (SWE), 52.97; 2. Blume (DEN), 53.68; 3. Kromowidjojo (NED), 53.72; 4. Penny Oleksiak (CAN), 54.22.

200 m Free: 1. Oleksiak (CAN), 1:57.18; 2. Leah Smith (USA), 1:57.84; 3. Sjostrom (SWE), 1:57.92; 4. Melanie Margalis (USA), 1:58.85.

400 m Free: 1. L. Smith (USA), 4:03.86; 2. Margalis (USA), 4:06.35; 3. Hali Flickinger (USA), 4:09.72; 4. Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 4:12.30.

50 m Backstroke: 1. tie, Kylie Masse (CAN), and Anastasiia Fesikova (RUS), 28.20; 3. Kromowidjojo (NED), 28.71; 4. Etiene Medeiros (BRA), 28.85.

100 m Back: 1. Masse (CAN), 59.13; 2. Margherita Panziera (ITA), 59.45; 3. Fesikova (RUS), 1:00.68; 4. Hosszu (HUN), 1:00.95.

200 m Back: 1. Panziera (ITA), 2:06.64; 2. Hosszu (HUN), 2:06.94; 3. Masse (CAN), 2:07.59; 4. Fesikova (RUS), 2:12.41.

50 m Breaststroke: 1. Lilly King (USA), 29.63; 2. Yuliya Efimova (RUS), 29.93; 3. Molly Hannis (USA), 30.40; 4. Bethany Galat (USA), 31.72.

100 m Breast: 1. King (USA), 1:05.13; 2. Efimova (RUS), 1:05.51; 3. Hannis (USA), 1:07.26; 4. Micah Sumrall (USA), 1:07.45.

200 m Breast: 1. King (USA), 2:21.29; 2. Efimova (RUS), 2:21.59; 3. Sumrall (USA), 2:23.88; 4. Galat (USA), 2:24.33.

50 m Butterfly: 1. Sjostrom (SWE), 25.48; 2. Osman (EGY), 25.95; 3. Kromowidjojo (NED), 26.01; 4. Kelsi Dahlia (USA), 26.14.

100 m Butterfly: 1. Sjostrom (SWE), 56.42; 2. Dahlia (USA), 57.55; 3. Oleksiak (CAN), 58.44; 4. Farida Osman (EGY), 58.67.

200 m Fly: 1. Flickinger (USA), 2:06.40; 2. Hosszu (HUN), 2:07.87; 3. Dahlia (USA), 2:10.25; 4. L. Smith (USA), 2:14.04.

200 m Medley: 1. Hosszu (HUN), 2:08.50; 2. Sydney Pickrem (CAN), 2:08.61; 3. Melanie Margalis (USA), 2:10.41; 4. Flickinger (USA), 2:13.31.

Mixed

4×100 m Freestyle: 1. Team 4 (Michael Andrew/USA, Jacob Pebley/USA, Kelsi Dahlia/USA, Ranomi Kromowidjojo/NED), 3:28.27; 2. Team 2 (Ryan Murphy/USA, Nicholas Santos/BRA, Etiene Medeiros/BRA, Kylie Masse/CAN), 3:30.94; 3. Team 3 (Jack Conger/USA, Cody Miller/USA, Sydney Pickrem/AUS, Hali Flickinger/USA), 3:33.85; 4. Team 1 (Zach Harting/USA, Josh Prenot/USA, Lilly King/USA, Yuliya Efimova/RUS), 3:39.13.

4×100 m Medley: 1. Team 4 (Jacob Pebley/USA, King/USA, Conger/USA, Kromowidjojo/NED), 3:46.21; 2. Team 1 (Masse/CAN, Efimova/RUS, Santos/BRA, Townley Haas/USA), 3:47.01; 3. Team 3 (Medeiros/BRA, Kamminga/NED, Dahlia/USA, Andrii Govorov/UKR), 3:48.64; 4. Team 2 (Anastasiia Fresikova/RUS, Pickrem/AUS, Andrew/USA, Vladimir Morozov/RUS), 3:51.61.