Dubai: Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu won four gold medals and broke one world record on the opening day of round two of the seven-leg Fina/Mastbank Swimming World Cup at the Hamdan Sports Complex in Dubai on Sunday.
The 25-year-old, 2012 and 2013 series champion, won gold in the 200-metre freestyle (1:52.25) and backstroke (2:01.17) and the 50-metre backstroke (26.10). She also won gold and broke her own world record in the 200-metre individual medley with a time of 2:02.13, shaving .48 of a second off her previous time set in Doha, Qatar, last week, in round one of the series.
“It’s really exciting,” she said. “We have a four-year plan since the London 2012 Olympics until Rio 2016. We are halfway there and it seems like we are doing a pretty good job, so we just have to keep focused and keep doing the same thing we are doing right now.
“I’m just working harder, and I feel like I’m really a 24-hour athlete now. I haven’t really taken time off since London and I’m just focusing on my goals and myself, trying to fix my mistakes.”
These results follow on from three world records and a ten medal haul, including seven golds in round one of the series in Doha, Qatar, last week, where she amassed 189 points to take an early series lead in the women’s category heading into Dubai.
The three world records in Qatar came in the 100 (57.25), 200 (2:02.61) and 400 metres (4:20.83) individual medleys.
Her other four gold medals in Doha came from the 200-metre freestyle, and the 50, 100 and 200 metres backstroke, while she won silver in the 200-metre butterfly and two bronze in the 800-metre freestyle and 50-metre butterfly.
Current men’s series leader and 2011 and 2013 series champion Chad Le Clos, 22, from South Africa, also won two gold medals in the 100-metre freestyle (46.24) and the 50-metre butterfly (22.02) on Sunday.
Like fellow previous double series winner Hosszu, in the women’s category, Le Clos leads the men’s equivalent after round one of the current series after Qatar. He came into Dubai on 54 points, after winning three gold medals in the 100-metre freestyle, 50 and 100 metres butterfly, last week.
Other highlights on day one of the series’ second leg included a world record for Hungary’s Daniel Gyurta in the 200-metre breaststroke in a time of 2:00.48, breaking his own previous best by .19 of a second set in 2009.
Elsewhere, recent Commonwealth Games 200-metre freestyle and 4x200-metre freestyle gold medallist Thomas Fraser-Holmes, 22, from Australia, broke a World Cup and Commonwealth record in the 400-metre individual medley, in a time of 3:58.69.
