The first group of the meets in the 2019 FINA Swimming World Cup came to a close in Singapore on Saturday, with a demonstration that baseball Hall of Famer Yogi Berra was right:
“It ain’t over until it’s over.” In this case:
● The men’s cluster title, worth $50,000, went to Russia’s Vladimir Morozov, who not only won three events – the 50-100 m Frees and 50 m Back – but also set three World Cup records and importantly, had the performance with the highest FINA points score that gave him a 24-point bonus that proved critical, with his 24.40 50 m Back win.
He was chased to the finish by American Andrew Wilson, who had the no. 2 performance of the meet (per the FINA scoring table) with his 2:09.11 victory in the 200 m Breast, and ended up with 129 points to 156 for Morozov.
● Even though it didn’t score as high as Morozov’s 50 m Back or Wilson’s 200 m Breast, Lithuania’s Danas Rapsys won the 200 m Free in a world-leading 1:44.38 time, moving him to no. 6 on the all-time performers list. It’s the second lifetime best in two meets for Rapsys, whose time is further noteworthy as it’s the no. 4 performance ever in a textile suit. That earned him 12 bonus points and vaulted him into third in the cluster scoring. The final men’s totals:
1. 156, Vladimir Morozov (RUS)
2. 129, Andrew Wilson (USA)
3. 111, Danas Rapsys (LTU)
4. 108, Mitch Larkin (AUS)
5. 78, Michael Andrew (USA)
● The women’s cluster race came down to the final event, which Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu needed to win to clinch the $50,000 first prize. She won easily, and benefited from Australia’s Cate Campbell choosing to swim in only three races and finishing first, second and then skipping the 50 m Back, scoring no points. Campbell had the top performance among the women, her blazing 24.02 in the 50 m Free (956), but Hosszu nearly caught her with an all-out performance in the 200 m Medley heats. The Iron Lady’s 2:08.15 time was the second-fastest of the year (she has done 2:07.02) and scored 953 points.
But with three wins (and a second) plus the no. 2 performance, she scored 54 points at the meet to total 156, six better than Campbell (150). Hosszu took the $50,000 cluster first prize, but Campbell earned $35,000 for second and there were prizes of 30,000-20,000-10,000-5,000-4,000-3,000 down to eighth. The top women:
1. 156, Katinka Hosszu (HUN)
2. 150, Cate Campbell (AUS)
3. 105, Emily Seebohm (AUS)
4. 75, Michelle Coleman (SWE)
5. 66, Holly Barratt (AUS)
● The amazing endurance performance of Russia’s Vitalina Simonova continued, as she completed – for the third meet in a row – swimming in 14 of the 16 individual events. She had her greatest success in Singapore, winning four medals, including a win in the 200 m Breaststroke for the second meet in a row.
Among the multi-medal winners in Singapore, the most prolific was American Michael Andrew, who won six medals, including a win in the 50 m Fly and the lead-off leg on the winning U.S. 4×100 m Mixed Medley relay.
Australia’s Larkin, Hosszu and Morozov all won three individual events and Larkin won a fourth in the 4×100 m Mixed Freestyle.
The World Cup is in hiatus now until 4-6 October in Budapest (HUN). Summaries:
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.
100 m Free: 1. Morozov (RUS), 47.88; 2. Szebasztian Szabo (HUN), 48.53; 3. Condorelli (ITA), 48.72.
200 m Free: 1. Danas Rapsys (LTU), 1:44.38; 2. Fraser-Holmes (AUS), 1:48.69; 3. Jiwen Cao (CHN), 1:50.56.
400 m Free: 1. Danas Rapsys (LTU), 3:45.59; 2. Henning Muhlleitner (GER), 3:52.12; 3. Ben Roberts (AUS), 3:53.27.
1,500 m Free: 1. Roberts (AUS), 15:21.58; 2. Muhlleitner (GER), 15:35.06; 3. Owen Ngan (SGP), 16:33.03.
50 m Backstroke: 1. Morozov (RUS), 24.40; 2. Andrew (USA), 24.66; 3. Tristan Hollard (AUS), 25.80.
100 m Back: 1. Larkin (AUS), 53.43; 2. Andrew (USA), 54.29; 3. Hollard (AUS), 54.93.
200 m Back: 1. Mitch Larkin (AUS), 1:56.60; 2. Tristan Hollard (AUS), 1:58.39; 3. Jorden Merrilees (AUS), 1:59.98.
50 m Breaststroke: 1. Nicolo Martinenghi (ITA), 27.23; 2. Felipe Silva (BRA), 27.27; 3. Andrew (USA), 27.28. Also: 4. Andrew Wilson (USA), 27.49; … 6. Jonathan Tybur (USA), 28.43.
100 m Breast: 1. A. Wilson (USA), 58.93; 2. Martinenghi (ITA), 59.58; 3. Andrius Sidlauskas (LTU), 1:00.08.
200 m Breast: 1. A. Wilson (USA), 2:09.11; 2. Sidlauskas (LTU), 2:11.04; 3. Tybur (USA), 2:12.36.
50 m Butterfly: 1. Andrew (USA), 23.07; 2. Szabo (HUN), 23.14; 3. Yauhen Tsurkin (BLR), 23.74. Also: 4. Giles Smith (USA), 23.82.
100 m Fly: 1. Grant Irvine (AUS), 51.26; 2. Szabo (HUN), 51.28; 3. G. Smith (USA), 52.23.
200 m Fly: 1. Irvine (AUS), 1:56.77; 2. Nic Brown (AUS), 1:57.20; 3. Navaphat Wongcharoen (THA), 2:00.44.
200 m Medley: 1. Larkin (AUS), 1:57.43; 2. Rapsys (LTU), 1:59.14; 3. Thomas Fraser-Holmes (AUS), 1:59.98. Also: 8. Tybur (USA), 2:04.42.
400 m Medley: 1. Fraser-Holmes (AUS), 4:17.14; 2. Yizhe Wang (CHN), 4:25.32; 3. Wilrich Coetzee (NZL), 4:29.17.
Women
50 m Freestyle: 1. Cate Campbell (AUS), 24.02; 2. Michelle Coleman (SWE), 24.65; 3. Holly Barratt (AUS), 24.80.
100 m Free: 1. Coleman (SWE), 53.63; 2. Barratt (AUS), 55.16; 3. Camille Chang (HKG), 55.19.
200 m Free: 1. Zsuzsanna Jakabos (HUN), 1:58.40; 2. Coleman (SWE), 1:58.74; 3. C. Cheng (HKG), 2:00.20.
400 m Free: 1. Maddy Gough (AUS), 4:08.09; 2. Erica Sullivan (USA), 4:09.28; 3. Moesha Johnson (AUS), 4:13.55.
800 m Free: 1. Sullivan (USA), 8:26.60; 2. Gough (AUS), 8:31.98; 3. M. Johnson (AUS), 8:44.95.
50 m Backstroke: 1. Barratt (AUS), 27.95; 2. Stephanie Au (HKG), 28.16; 3. Emily Seebohm (AUS), 28.18.
100 m Back: 1. Seebohm (AUS), 59.43; 2. Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 59.48; 3. Au (HKG), 1:00.22.
200 m Back: 1. Seebohm (AUS), 2:10.50; 2. Toto Wong (HKG), 2:15.79; 3. Sullivan (USA), 2:17.78.
50 m Breaststroke: 1. Alia Atkinson (JAM), 30.31; 2. Breeja Larson (USA), 30.98; 3. Ran Suo (CHN), 31.13.
100 m Breast: 1. Atkinson (JAM), 1:07.35; 2. Larson (USA), 1:07.55; 3. Vitalina Simonova (RUS), 1:09.33.
200 m Breast: 1. Simonova (RUS), 2:25.65; 2. Larson (USA), 2:28.75; 3. Phiangkhwan Pawapotako (THA), 2:33.67.
50 m Butterfly: 1. Barratt (AUS), 25.31; 2. C. Campbell (AUS), 25.49; 3. Jeanette Ottesen (DEN), 25.92.
100 m Fly: 1. Yufei Zhang (CHN), 57.94; 2. Jakabos (HUN), 58.43; 3. Ottesen (DEN), 58.49.
200 m Fly: 1. Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 2:07.07; 2. Jakabos (HUN), 2:07.48; 3. Jing Wen Quah (SGP), 2:10.26.
200 m Medley: 1. Hosszu (HUN), 2:08.63; 2. Jakabos (HUN), 2:13.64; 3. Simonova (RUS), 2:18.43.
400 m Medley: 1. Hosszu (HUN), 4:39.76; 2. Jakabos (HUN), 4:45.28; 3. Simonova (RUS), 4:52.49. Also: 4. Sullivan (USA), 4:57.96.
Mixed
4×100 m Freestyle: 1. Australia (Fraser-Holmes, Larkin, Seebohm, C. Campbell), 3:26.45; 2. Singapore, 3:31.53; 3. China, 3:32.64. Also: 4. United States (Michael Andrew, Giles Smith, Breeja Larson, Erica Sullivan), 3:34.56.
4×100 m Medley: 1. United States (Michael Andrew, Breeja Larson, Giles Smith, Erica Sullivan), 3:52.17; 2. Australia, 3:53.09; 3. China, 3:58.43.
