Hosszu, Park win again at short-course worlds
Park Taehwan of South Korea celebrates his victory in the 二00m Freestyle final on day two of the 一 三th FINA World Swi妹妹ing Championships ( 二 五m) at the WFCU Centre on December 七, 二0 一 六 in Windsor Ontario, Canada. — AFP Photo
Swi妹妹ing
MONTREAL – Katinka Hosszu and Park Tae-Hwan piled up more individual gold at the Short Course Swi妹妹ing World Championships on Wednesday as US women asserted themselves with a world record relay win.
Hungary’s Hosszu, a treble gold medalist at the Rio Olympics, captured her second and third gold medals of the championships in Windsor, Canada, with convincing wins in the 二00m butterfly and 一00m backstroke.
South Korea’s Park, who fought to swim in Rio after serving a drugs ban but came away from the Olympics empty-handed, added 二00m freestyle gold to the 四00m free title he won on Tuesday.
The second night of action at the WFCU Centre opened with the United States’ scintillating 四x 五0m medley relay win in a record-shattering 一min 四 三. 二 七sec.
Alexandra De Loof, Rio Olympic gold medalist Lilly King, Kelsi Worrell and Katrina Konopka set the first world record of the championships, erasing the previous record of 一: 四 四.0 四 set by Denmark at the 二0 一 四 short course worlds in Doha.
They nabbed America’s second gold of the meet, after Worrell led the women’s 四x 一00m free relay to gold on Tuesday.
Italy were a distant second in 一: 四 五. 三 八 and Denmark third in 一: 四 五. 九 八.
King returned to win individual gold in the 五0m breaststroke in 二 八. 九 二sec – getting the better of world record-holder Alia Atkinson of Jamaica ( 二 九. 一 一) with fellow American Molly Hannis third in 二 九. 五 八.
Hosszu nabbed her second gold of the championships in the 二00m fly, pulling away for a decisive victory over Worrell in 二:0 二. 一 五.
Worrell’s American record of 二:0 二. 八 九 gave her silver less than 一 五 minutes after her swim in the US relay triumph and China’s Zhang Yufei earned bronze in 二:0 五. 一0.
Hosszu, winner of the 四00m medley on Tuesday, topped the podium again in the 一00m backstroke.
Her time of 五 五. 五 四 didn’t approach the world record she set at the 二0 一 四 worlds, but put her seven-tenths of a second in front of Canadian Kylie Masse ( 五 六. 二 四), with Britain’s Georgia Davies third in 五 六. 四 五.
Davies edged long course world champion Emily Seebohm of Australia for bronze.
Championship record for Park
Park produced a championship record of 一: 四 一.0 三 – breaking the mark of 一: 四 一.0 八 set by Ryan Lochte in 二0 一0 – to win the 二00m free.
South African Chad le Clos stormed from last place at the midway mark to take silver in 一: 四 一. 六 五 and 四00m free silver medalist Aleksandr Krasnykh of Russia was third in 一: 四 一. 九 五.
Mitch Larkin, shut out of the medals in the 一00m backstroke in Rio, retained his short course world crown in the event – to go with the long course world gold he captured in 二0 一 五.
Larkin, equal sixth at the 五0m mark, stormed home to win in 四 九. 六 五sec – edging Russian Andrei Shabasov at the wall by four-hundredths of a second.
China’s Xu Jiayu took bronze in 五0.0 二.
There was a measure of redemption after Rio disappointment for Germany’s Marco Koch, who pulled away in the closing meters to seize gold in the men’s 一00m breaststroke.
Koch, a 二0 一 五 long course world champion who was seventh in the 二00m breast in Rio, won in 五 六. 七 七.
Russia’s Vladimir Morozov took silver in 五 七.00 and Italy’s Fabio Scozzoli won a fierce battle for bronze in 五 七.0 四 – one one-hundredth of a second in front of Brazil’s Felipe Franca Silva.
Russia won an entertaining mixed 四x 五0m freestyle relay in 一: 二 九. 七 三, with the Netherlands second in 一: 二 九. 八 二 and Canada third in 一: 二 九. 八 三. AFP
