Dubai: World and Olympic champion Daniel Gyurta will be among the big names competing at next week’s Dubai round of the Fina Swimming World Cup.
The 24-year-old Hungarian breaststroke star will join the likes of Chad Le Clos, Osama Mellouli, Katinka Hosszu and Ranomi Kromowidjojo in a high-quality line-up at the Hamdan Sports Complex on October 17 and 18.
Gyurta has established himself as the best 200m breaststroker in the world with an incredible string of successes since he burst onto the international scene at 15 with a silver medal at the 2004 Olympic Games.
During the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Gyurta set a new Olympic record in the heats but eventually finished fifth in the final. At the World Championships in 2009, Gyurta took gold in a new European record before retaining his title two years later.
The Hungarian claimed his first Olympic title in London last year, before winning yet another world title and setting a new world record in the short course championships in Istanbul. Most recently, Gyurta won his third consecutive World Championships gold medal in Barcelona in August.
He has also won the 200m breaststroke events and claimed second in the 100m at the first two World Cup rounds in Eindhoven and Berlin, leaving him third on the overall points table behind Le Clos and Vladimir Morozov.
Ahmad Al Falasi, President of the UAE Swimming Association and Chairman of the Organising Committee, said: “We are delighted to be welcoming Daniel Gyurta back to Dubai after seeing him compete in the 2010 Fina World Championships (25m), in which he won silver. The calibre of the competition this year is superb and we are looking forward to some very exciting performances next week.”
Dr Ahmad Al Sharif, General Secretary of Dubai Sports Council, added: “We encourage all swimming fans to come and see the great competition next week, the standard is guaranteed to be world class and we are thrilled to be hosting such a spectacular swimming event.”
The third leg of the World Cup will take place in Moscow this weekend, before attention turns to Dubai. The competition will then move on to Doha, Singapore, Tokyo and the final event in Beijing on November 13-14.
For more details on the Dubai round see the event’s Facebook page: FINASWC13Dubai.
