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ROME, Italy, August 2. HUNGARY's Katinka Hosszu finished a meet in which she put her name on the international map by slaying some giants in the women's 400 IM at the FINA World Championships.
Hosszu held touch with Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry through the breaststroke leg, then dominated the freestyle en route to a 4:30.31 meet record for gold. She chopped two seconds from Katie Hoff's meet record of 4:32.89 set in 2007. Hosszu moved up to third all time in history with the swim. Only world record holder Stephanie Rice (4:29.45) and Coventry (4:29.89) have been faster.
Coventry nearly pulled off an outside smoke triumph from lane 1, and led after the breaststroke leg. She faded to silver, however, with a 4:32.12 in the distance medley event.
Rice completed the podium, surging from fourth to third over the final 50 meters with a 4:32.29 as she tracked down Great Britiain's Hannah Miley (4:32.72).
The United States' Elizabeth Beisel (4:34.90) and Julia Smit (4:35.33) placed fifth and sixth, while Hungary's Zsuzsanna Jakabos (4:37.85) and Canada's Tanya Hunks (4:38.15) finished up the event.