Top performers of FINA/Arena Swimming World Cup: Doha, Qatar – Part 4
The second day of the FINA/Arena Swimming World Cup kicked off with the commendable form of South Africa’s Darian Townsend in the Men’s 200m Individual Medley (IM).
After the stupendous efforts of Hosszu and Daiya Seto in their respective events, the expectations of the audience reached a higher level.
The South African swimmer met expectations of his fans by overpowering the playoff of the 200m discipline. With his commendable efforts in the eight-lap discipline, Townsend sprinted his way towards the victory stand for gold medal by submitting a time of
1 minute and 53.75 seconds.
His splendid effort remained almost four seconds slower from the world mark of 1 minute and 50.08 seconds, owned by Ryan Lochte of USA in 2010.
His gold finish effort remained 0.10 seconds ahead of Laszlo Cseh of Hungary, who captured silver medal of the event by posting a time of 1 minute and 53.85 seconds. Similarly, Cseh remained in a comfortable lead over Daiya Seto of Japan, who captured bronze
medal with a timing of 1 minute and 54.78 seconds.
“I’m happy that I have one medal of each colour here at Doha. I am not sure how much more swimming I’ll do this season but Dubai and Doha have been awesome. The South Africans have put on a great show this year,” said Townsend after his victory.
After few moments, Katinka Hosszu reached the pool deck for Women’s 200m IM. Hosszu faced tough competition from her team-member, but managed to ascend on the medal rostrum for gold medal with a timing of 4 minutes and 30.03 seconds.
Hosszu was traced by Zsuzsanna Jakabos and Kathryn Meaklim of South Africa, who finished second and third in the race with efforts of 4:30.44 and 4:46.05 minutes, respectively.
She also seized the title of Women’s 400m freestyle, which was her fifth gold medal of the tournament. With her continuous efforts, she remained more than one body length ahead of her toughest challenger and tapped the wall with a timing of 4 minutes and
04.24 seconds.
Melissa Ingram of New Zealand and Daryna Zevina of Ukraine followed her on the podium as they ended their swim in second and third place with timings of 4:05.62 and 4:07.17 minutes, respectively.
Following that, Hosszu earned her sixth gold medal of the championship by pocketing the title of Women’s 100m IM. With her epic start, she remained considerably ahead of her rival and posted a time of 59.74 seconds.
Hosszu was trailed by Zsuzsanna Jakabos and Britta Steffen, who secured silver and bronze finish with timings of 1:00.41 and 1:01.58 minutes respectively.
She claimed her seventh title of the tournament by finishing first in the Women’s 200m butterfly with an effort of 2 minutes and 09.31 seconds.
On the other hand, Anthony Ervin upset his opponents in the Men’s 50m freestyle. Ervin came first in the event with a timing of 21.02 seconds while George Bovell and Kyle Richardson ended second and third in a time of 21.06 and 21.54 seconds, respectively.
After his gold finish in the 50m discipline, Ervin told, “After this morning my main aim was to find the details I could improve on to swim fast tonight and I’m pleased with the event as it is my best time in this event. The FINA World Cup is a great event
to keep the interest of swimming for the public after the post-Olympic lull.”
The crowd appreciated notable efforts of all swimmers while Hosszu received massive appreciation from the audience, as she bagged seven gold medals.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
Tags: