Swimmers impress at FINA Swimming World Cup, Beijing – Part 1
The gruelling efforts of elite swimmers continued at the third last stop of Federation Internationale de Natation (FINA) World Cup Series in Beijing, China.
The World Cup series is one of the main aquatic events that allow the international swimmers to race each other in a series of events arranged at different places.
The crowd enjoyed ruthless efforts of all stars in their respective events while the prominent performances of the event included scintillating forms of Katinka Hosszu, Ye Shiwen, Glenn Snyders, Tommaso D’Orsogna, Kenneth To and Matthew Stanley.
The night kicked off with the astonishing pace of Katinka Hosszu of Hungary in the Women’s 800m freestyle.
Hosszu, who is the leading swimmer in the FINA/Arena World Cup Series so far by a prominent margin, continued her dazzling performance in the 32-lap freestyle discipline.
With her immaculate pace, the Hungarian veteran managed to edge out her toughest competitor over the finishing end as she captured gold medal of the race in a time of 8 minutes and 21.49 seconds.
Her stupendous effort remained considerably away from the championship mark of Denmark’s Lotte Friis, who occupied the title of the same event in 8 minutes and 04.61 seconds in November 2009.
Subsequently, she remained almost 17 seconds away from the world record of 8 minutes and 04.53 seconds, owned by Alessia Filippi of Italy in December 2008.
Hosszu was followed by Siyu Yan, who remained just a touch slower from her over the finishing end and secured silver medal of the event by producing a time of 8 minutes and 21.58 seconds.
Similarly, Yan remained two body lengths ahead of Australian swimmer, Laura Crockart, who seized bronze medal of the race by producing a time of 8 minutes and 23.83 seconds.
Hosszu, who clinched seven gold medals each at the initial two stops of the Series expressed that she is exhausted with her busy schedule but she wanted to have an experience of something different.
“I'm not here for money or rankings. I feel really tired, but I wanted to do something different, so I decided to do my best in every event,” said Hosszu after her win.
Afterwards, Yiwen Shao of China emerged on the starting blocks to prove her mettle for the title of Women’s 200m freestyle. The Chinese swimmer met expectations of her supporters by overpowering her challengers over the finishing end.
Shao remained engaged in a stroke-to-stroke battle from her closest swimmer, Zsuzsanna Jakabos of Hungary but managed to outperform her over the wall. Shao occupied the crown of the event by producing a time of 1 minute and 55.13 seconds.
Her wonderful swim remained almost three seconds away from the meet record of 1 minute and 52.08 seconds, made by Allison Schmitt in 2011. She was almost four seconds away from the world record of 1 minute and 51.17 seconds, made by Federica Pellegrini in
2009.
Shao was trailed by Jakabos, who missed the gold crown by just a fraction, and proved her eligibility for silver medal of the event by touching the wall with an effort of 1 minute and 55.14 seconds.
Jakabos remained only an inch ahead of Chinese swimmer, Yuhan Qiu, who secured bronze medal of the event by reporting a time of 1 minute and 55.24 seconds.
To be continued in Part 2.
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