FINA World Cup: Hosszu Might Be Iron Lady, But Sjöström Has Commanding Lead

FINA World Cup: Hosszu Might Be Iron Lady, But Sjöström Has Commanding Lead

Recap, results, and scores from day two finals Wednesday at the 2017 FINA World Cup in Tokyo, Japan.

Nov 15, 2017 by Maclin Simpson
FINA World Cup: Hosszu Might Be Iron Lady, But Sjöström Has Commanding Lead

The records were tumbling at the Tatsumi International Swimming Centre on night two finals of the FINA World Cup in Tokyo on Wednesday.

The main development is the lead Sweden's Sarah Sjöström continues to build over reigning World Cup champion and Iron Lady Katinka Hosszu in the point standings.

2017 FINA World Cup - Cluster No. 3

Nov. 10-11: Beijing

Nov. 14-15: Tokyo

Nov. 18-19: Singapore

LIVE RESULTS

Daiya Seto signaled his intentions early during the 400m IM, splitting 53.9 in the fly to be under Ryan Lochte's world-record pace for 300m, only to fade towards the end — unable to match Lochte’s 54 freestyle leg but still break his own World Cup record from Beijing. His splits: 53.9/1:00.1/1:06.7/56.6. Insane.

Men’s 400m IM

  1. 3:57.66 – Daiya Seto (World Cup Record) 
  2. 4:03.38 – Peter Bernek
  3. 4:03.72 – David Verraszto

Sprint queen Sarah Sjöström also broke a World Cup record on Wednesday night in the 100m fly. Like Seto, Sjöström was out under world-record pace for 50m, splitting 25.8, only to fatigue in her second swim of the night to miss her world record by 0.4 seconds.

Women’s 100m Butterfly

  1. 55.07 – Sarah Sjostrom (World Cup Record)
  2. 55.99 – Rikako Ikee (Junior World Record)
  3. 56.89 – Yufei Zhang

Sjöström must have been swimming angry after getting outraced by Ranomi Kromowidjojo moments before the 100 fly in the 50m freestyle. These two have been trading world records in this event for some time now. Kromowidjojo gets the result in Tokyo after seeing Sjöström beat her at the last three World Cup stops. Look for this mark to be smashed next month at the Europeans in Denmark.

Women’s 50m Freestyle

  1. 23.29 – Ranomi Kromowidjojo
  2. 23.34 – Sarah Sjostrom
  3. 23.70 – Cate Campbell

Japan’s brightest female star, Rikako Ikee, broke two world junior records on Wednesday night to go with her one from Tuesday night's 50m fly. Pushing world champion Katinka Hosszu all the way in the 100m IM, Ikee followed up by trailing Sjöström in the 100m fly. Both previous records were from Ikee at last year’s edition of this meet. She is certainly a star of the future.

Women’s 100m IM

  1. 57.38 – Katinka Hosszu
  2. 57.75 – Rikako Ikee (Junior World Record)
  3. 58.00 – Emily Seebohm

The Iron Lady lived up to her name, attempting an excruciating triple within the first 30 minutes of the program. After winning her pet IM event, Hosszu placed third in the 200m backstroke, following a stunning 29.1 final 50m. But a negative split race from Emily Seebohm stole the show from Hosszu and rising star Regan Smith of the USA junior national team.

Women’s 200m Backstroke

  1. 2:01.98 – Emily Seebohm
  2. 2:02.23 – Regan Smith
  3. 2:03.56 – Katinka Hosszu

China’s Bingjie Li regained her world junior record in the 400m freestyle after it was broken by teammate Jianjiahe Wang four days ago in Beijing. Li, the dual silver medalist from this year’s Budapest World Championships, finished ahead of Boglarka Kapas and Jie Dong, after all turned together at the 200m mark in 1:58.

Women’s 400m Freestyle

  1. 3:59.14 -- Bingjie Li (Junior World Record)
  2. 4:00.09 – Boglarka Kapas
  3. 4:00.80 – Jie Dong

Chad le Clos had a pair of tough 200s back-to-back on Wednesday night, first controlling things in the 200m fly with a comfortable win in 1:50.7. Out in 52.7 under his own world-record pace from 2013, le Clos is showing his easy speed is on. With Seto set to contest this race at the upcoming Singapore World Cup, this matchup is mouth-watering.

Men’s 200m Butterfly

  1. 1:50.71 – Chad Le Clos
  2. 1:51.37 – Nao Horomura
  3. 1:51.57 – Zhuhao Li

Australia’s Cameron McEvoy stepped up for his first medal of this year’s tour, getting the better of le Clos in the 200m freestyle. While both were out much slower than in Beijing, McEvoy surprised with a back half to take the race in 1:43.37.

Men’s 200m Freestyle

  1. 1:43.37 – Cameron McEvoy
  2. 1:43.56 – Chad Le Clos
  3. 1:44.00 – Clement Mignon

Yasuhiro Koseki made it 4 for 4 in the breaststroke events this cluster with a surprise win over the 50m distance ahead of World Cup star Kirill Prigoda and freestyle specialist Vlad Morozov.

Men’s 50m Breaststroke

  1. 26.09 – Yasuhiro Koseki
  2. 26.13 – Kirill Prigoda
  3. 26.21 – Vlad Morozov

World champion Jiayu Xu established his dominance in the sprint backstroke events at this cluster, dropping a 49.8 to win the gold medal to go with his gold over 50m in Beijing. Xu will race both the 50m and 100m at the next stop in Singapore.

Men’s 100m Backstroke

  1. 49.82 – Jiayu Xu
  2. 50.04 – Ryosuke Irie
  3. 50.34 – Masaki Kaneko

In a thrilling race, short course world champ and current world-record holder Alia Atkinson again went for the fly and die strategy in the 100m breaststroke, only to be pipped at the finish by a fast-charging Yulia Efimova.

Women’s 100m Breaststroke

  1. 1:03.90 – Yuliya Efimova
  2. 1:04.14 – Alia Atkinson
  3. 1:04.99 – Kanako Watanabe

The FINA World Cup Tour wraps up this weekend, with the third stop of the cluster and the eighth and final meet of the tour, at the OCBC Aquatic Centre in Singapore.

FINA High Point Scorers [Tokyo]

Men

  1. 972 – Daiya Seto (400m IM)
  2. 954 – Vlad Morozov (100m Free)
  3. 953 – Yasuhiro Koseki (100m Breast)

Women

  1. 993 – Ranomi Kromowidjojo (50m Free)
  2. 987 – Sarah Sjostrom (50m Free)
  3. 978 – Katinka Hosszu (100m IM Heat)

Cluster Point Scores [Progressive]

Men

  1. 90 – Chad Le Clos
  2. 84 – Vlad Morozov
  3. 84 – Daiya Seto
  4. 60 – Yasuhiro Koseki
  5. 36 – Jiayu Xu
  6. 30 – Ryosuke Irie

Women

  1. 132 – Sarah Sjostrom
  2. 87 – Katinka Hosszu
  3. 81 – Ranomi Kromowidjojo
  4. 66 – Emily Seebohm
  5. 42 – Cate Campbell
  6. 33 – Alia Atkinson

Editorial coverage by Bobby Hurley