Everything you need to follow along with finals live during the 2015 FINA World Cup Hong Kong. Hit refresh for the latest coverage.
Men’s 100 free
Japan’s Katsumi Nakamura took the men’s 100 free final in 49.48 just over top-seeded Kenneth To (49.52). Nakamura’s swim would have also won gold in last month’s Paris-Chartres World Cup stop. A 49.48 would have placed seventh.
Dan Smith rounded out the podium with a third place finish in 49.82. The only other swimmer to break the 50-second mark was Vellmir Stjepanovic.
Women’s 200 free
The results from Paris-Chartres repeated in the women’s 200 free final in Hong Kong. The difference in this race is that Katinka Hosszu swam a bit faster, and Missy Franklin was slightly slower. Hosszu won again with a time of 1:55.81, followed by Franklin (1:58.38) and Zsuzsanna Jakabos (1:59.51). Jakobos’ third place finish places two Hungarian women on the podium in Hong Kong.
This swim bumps Hosszu up one spot on the world rankings, as she dropped .08 seconds on her time so far this year. She is still a few tenths off Franklin’s 1:55.49 from World Championships.
Camille Lily Mel Cheng (1:59.83) and Shijia Wang (1:59.85) were also under 2:00 in the final. Lisa Zaiser (2:02.69), Shuyu Sun (2:03.11), and Christie May Mun Ee Chue rounded out the A final.
Men’s 50 breast
Cameron Van Der Burgh took the men’s 50 breast in 27.23. This was slightly off his time of 26.74 from last month. Matthew Treloar took silver in 27.83 followed by Tommy Sucipto in 28.01. None of these time are near the top of the World Rankings, as it took a 27.7 to make the podium in Chartres.
Japan’s Akihiro Yamaguchi took fourth in 28.43, followed closely by China’s Weijia Shi in 28.47 and Man Hou Chao in 28.88. Chun Yan Wong (29.01) and Hoi Tung Ronald (29.23) also competed in the final.
Women’s 100 breast
Alia Atkinson had less of a challenge to make it to the top of the podium this time around. Instead of battling against a tough USA squad of breaststrokers, Atkinson cruised to victory with nearly a two-second margin between her and her closest competitor.
It took around 1:07.5 to even make the podium in the Moscow and Chartres World Cup stops. This time around, Atkinson’s gold medal was won in a time of 1:07.91, while Russia’s Vitalina Simonova took silver in 1:09.63 and China’s Xiaoyu Liu claimed bronze in 1:09.87. All three swimmers split 36s on the second 50, but no one could compete with Atkinson’s front end speed, as she went out in a 31.65.
Hui Yan Cheyenne Cheung (1:13.20), Bridget Aisling (1:13.30), Rainbow Ip (1:13.92), Kristen Sun (1:14.66) and Ka Hei Chan (1:15.77) rounded out the women’s 100 breast final.
Women’s 100 fly
Katinka Hosszu took her second event of the night in the women’s 100 fly with a time of 59.31. It was a close race down to the wire, but Hosszu got the edge over Shuang Li of China (59.74). Hang Yu Sze took the final spot on the podium in 1:00.30.
Jakabos took fourth in 1:00.70, followed by Carolina Colorado in 1:00.92. This heat was missing some sprint butterfly superstars, but it was still a race for Hosszu through the finish.
Men’s 100 back
Japan’s Yuki Shirai took the gold in the men’s 100 back in 54.39 followed closely by Australia’s Ash Delaney in 54.78. Australia placed two on the podium in this event as Josh Beaver took the bronze in 54.86.
Delaney was first to the wall at the 50, but was defeated by Shirai’s strong second 50 (27.75). Beaver also has great closing speed (27.79), nearly missing the silver medal.
The rest of the field was above 55 seconds starting with Omar Pinzon (55.89), Marco Antonio Lou Ghran (56.28), Shiu Yue Lau (56.95), Oleg Garasymovytch (57.28) and Pok Man Ngou (58.97).
Women’s 50 back
Australia is proving their backstroke dominance at the this meet, also placing two swimmers on the podium on the women’s side. This time, the Australian team took the top two spots. Emily Seebohm (27.90) and Holly Barratt (28.22) got to the wall first ahead of Hosszu (28.49) and Franklin who finished fifth (28.87). Hoi Shun Stephanie Au finished between Hosszu and Franklin in 28.69.
Seebohm was just off her silver-medal time from Chartres where she was out-touched by USA’s Natalie Coughlin. She may have been a bit slower, but it was enough to get the win in a loaded field.
Yin Yan Claudia Lau (29.65), Madison Kennedy (29.73), and Colorado finished out the heat.
Men’s 200 fly
Masato Sakai of Japan swam a 1:56.25 to win the 200 fly. He led the race from start to finish, wining by over two full seconds. There was a close battle for second between Australia’s Nic Brown (1:59.02) and Russia’s Aleksandr Kudashev (1:59.03). Kudashev closed on Brown in the back half of the race but did not have enough room to get the silver.
The heat had a similar pattern as the previous World Cup stops, with some swimmers breaking 2:00 and others a few seconds over. Semen Makovich took fourth in 2:04.17, followed by Tsz Hin Suen (2:07.09), Chun Leung Johnny Lau (2:07.61), Ka Ho Kwong (2:07.74), and Tin Long Ho (2:10.70).
Women’s 200 IM
Hosszu claimed another title in the 200 IM, bringing her streak up to 17 straight World Cup titles in this event. Her time of 2:11.78 was enough to out-swim Japan’s Rika Omoto (2:12.77). The difference did not come in one specific leg of the race; Hosszu was consistently one to four tenths faster than Omoto on every 50.
Jakabos landed another spot on the podium in this event finishing third in 2:14.43. Zaiser was not far behind to get fourth in 2:15.27. Aside from Omoto, these top finishers all swam the event in Chartres. All three were slower in Hong Kong.
Vitalina Somonova (2:22.23), Kin Lok Chan (2:24.89), Yuk Yan Wong (2:24.00) and Pak Wai Yeung (2:28.74) placed fifth through eighth.
Men’s 400 free
After claiming the 200 free in Chartres, Australia’s Dan Smith took the 400 free title in Hong Kong. His time of 3:52.68 was enough to get to the wall ahead of David Brandl (3:53.07) and Sakai/Jacob Hansford (3:53.15) who tied for third. Smith was consistently slightly ahead of the pack for the whole race, giving Australia their first men’s victory of the night.
Stjepanovic (3:54.97) and Jie Zhang (3:55.07) were also under 4:00 in the final.
Women’s 50 free
Australia was victorious again as the Campbell sisters took the top two spots in the 50 free. Cate Campbell won the event in 24.69, followed by Bronte Campbell in 24.84. The duo had to beat out tough competition in Jeanette Ottesen (25.05) and Madison Kennedy (25.41), but managed to get their hands on the wall first.
This was Cate Campbell’s sixth World Cup title in this event. Ottesen won the event in Moscow, but could not repeat her victory in Hong Kong.
Barrat (25.76) , Shuyu Sun (25.79), Cheng (26.46) and Zaiser (26.85) were also in the mix.
Men’s 200 breast
Akihiro Yamaguchi won a close race in the men’s 200 breast. His time of 2:13.13 was just enough to beat Ippel Watanabe (2:13.14). Both swimmers are from Japan. Watanabe had the lead through the 150, but could not match Yamaguchi’s 33.0 split on the last 50. Yamaguchi also won this event in Tokyo in 2012, giving him a total of two World Cup title in this event.
Hungary’s David Verraszto (2:15.18) and USA’s Sean Mahoney (2:16.00) were also in the hunt for gold at the 150, but split 34.5 and 35.2, respectively at the end.
Hoi Tung Ronald Tsui (2:22.67), Yan Kin Ng (2:23.25), Ka Fal Kwok (2:23.71) and Chun Wai Lai placed fifth through eighth in this event.
Women’s 200 back
The women’s 200 back final showed a loaded field of veteran women. After Russia’s Daria Ustinova beat Franklin, Hosszu and Seebohm in Moscow and Chartres, the trio finally got their respective top three spots.
Hosszu had yet another win, bringing her total to four for the night. Her time of 2:08.61 was enough to beat Seebohm (2:09.77), who currently has the fastest time in the world this year at 2:05.81. Franklin was third with a 2:11.23.
Seebohm split 30.51 to make up huge ground on Hosszu in the last 50. But it was not enough to edge her out after Hosszu built herself a three and a half second lead by the 150.
Belinda Hockling (2:13.25), Yin Yan Claudia Lau (2:14.45), Hayley Abood (2:16.85), Jordis Steinegger (2:17.22) and Hoi Yee Kylie Woo (2:29.19) rounded out the heat.
Men’s 50 fly
Geoffrey Cheah took the men’s 50 fly in front of his home crowd with a time of 24.23. Kenneth To (24.30), Te Haumi Maxwell (24.33), Yiyong Hu (24.38), Viacheslav Prudnikov (24.40) and William Benson (24.53) were not far behind, finishing third through sixth in the heat.
Last year, Cheah was third in this event. He is the third gold medal winner for Hong Kong at the World Cup.
Women’s 800 free
Katinka Hosszu won yet again with an 8:42.88 from the earlier heats in the timed final event.
China’s Hou Yawen took second the women’s 800 free in 8:46.60 from the faster heats. Jakabos finished out a busy day with a silver medal (9:05.20), her highest placement in this event at the World Cup. Hou dominated the entire race, while Jakabos began to make her move on fourth-place Tsoi Lam Katil Tang around the 400 mark.
This is Hou’s second time swimming this event in the World Cup circuit. She placed eighth in Beijing in 2013.
Men’s 400 IM
Hungary’s David Verraszto continued the country’s IM success by winning the 400 distance on the men’s side. His time of 4:18.06 was good enough to get the win over Tomas Elliot (4:19.82). It was Verraszto’s strong back half that propelled him to the wall first.
This was Verraszto’s third consecutive World Cup victory in this event, bringing his total to six.
Kazmir Boscovic took the bronze in 4:24.46, followed by Sebastian Steffen in 4:37.99.
