Stars shine at FINA/Arena Swimming World Cup: Dubai, United Arab Emirates – Part 13
After the astonishing efforts of Cameron van der Burgh in the Men’s 100m breaststroke, the focus of the audience shifted towards Women’s 400m Individual Medley (IM), where Katinka Hosszu of Hungary was top favourite for the crown.
Hosszu’s eye-catching performance on initial day of the 2012 FINA/Arena Swimming World Cup placed her in a strong position to dominate the distant IM discipline. Nevertheless, she was going to face forceful efforts the championship record holder of the race,
Kathryn Meaklim of South Africa, who also made her way into the final.
The Hungarian swimmer remained considerably ahead of her following swimmer throughout the 16-lap IM discipline and experienced no resistance from her strongest contender. She stayed in a lead of more than 10 metres over her closest competitor and touched
the wall for gold medal by producing an effort of 4 minutes and 31.34 seconds.
Her immaculate effort remained nearly nine seconds slower from the championship mark of 4 minutes and 22.88 seconds, owned by Meaklim from 2009. In addition, her performance was nearly 10 seconds slower from the world record of 4 minutes and 21.04 seconds,
set by Julia Smit of USA during 2009.
Hosszu was followed by Zsuzsanna Jakabos of Hungary, who stayed considerably slower from her over the finishing wall and secured silver medal by producing a time of 4 minutes and 36.93 seconds.
Third position of the event was obtained by Meaklim, who was noticeably slower from her preceding swimmer and surfaced on the wall with a timing of 4 minutes and 38.92 seconds.
The Hungarian swimmer was pretty tensed about her performance but felt relieved after her victory. She was extremely pleased with her performance at the two-day event and articulated her desire of continuing the same in future events.
“I’m feeling really tired but I’m really happy with my form, I’m pretty excited about the rest of the World Cups. It’s fun to do these races, its more exciting than training. I have pretty high expectations for myself, I wasn’t sure if I could reach it,
so I’m pretty happy with how I’ve done,” Hosszu said.
After few moments, the finalists of the Women’s 100m backstroke lined up on the starting blocks to prove supremacy over each other for the title. The spectators expected fierce competition between Daryna Zevina of Ukraine and Rachel Goh of Australia, who
occupied top two qualifying spots of the race.
With her impeccable pace, Goh managed to edge out her closest competitor over the finishing end and grabbed the title with an effort of 57.67 seconds.
“It was good to come away with two wins, it’s a good way to start the World Cups and I’ll try to carry this through the series,” said Goh after the race.
Her pace remained nearly 2.50 seconds slower from the world mark of 55.23 seconds, held by Shiho Sakai of Japan from November 2009.
Goh remained just two strokes ahead of her toughest contender, Zevina, who stepped on the medal rostrum for silver medal by producing a time of 58.07 seconds.
The Ukrainian swimmer was traced by Noriko Inada of Japan, who stayed more than a body length slower from her foregoing swimmer and reported an effort of 59.29 seconds.
Inada remained prominently ahead of Jenny Mensing of Germany, who settled on the wall as fourth fastest swimmer by ending her race in a time of 1 minute and 00.29 seconds.
To be continued in Part 14.
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