Dubai // Katinka Hosszu continued her excellent start to the 2014 Fina Swimming World Cup series by breaking a fourth world record inside five days.
Winner of seven gold medals in the opening leg of the World Cup in Doha last week – where she set new world records in the 100-metre, 200m and 400m individual medley events – the Hungarian star, 25, topped the podium in all four of her events at the Hamdan Sports Complex last night and also improved on the 200m individual medley record.
Hosszu’s Hungarian compatriot, Daniel Gyurta, set a new world record on the night, winning the men’s 200m breaststroke in 2 minutes, 00.48 seconds to improve upon his own short-course mark of 2:00.67, which was set at the 2009 European Championships in Istanbul.
“It’s really exciting,” said Hosszu, who clocked 2:02.13 in the 200m IM last night to erase her Doha time of 2:02.61 from the record books. “I really wanted to get the 200m freestyle, but there will be more chances. I have already improved a lot since last year, so I am happy.”
The 200m freestyle world record of 1:51.17, set by Italian Federica Pellegrini in 2009, looked within Hosszu’s grasp at the halfway stage of the race, when she was 0.49 seconds ahead of the mark, but she slowed down in second half and finished in 1:52.25.
Hosszu, who also took gold in the 50m and 200m backstroke, was pleased with her effort.
“The amazing part is that last year and the year before, I was swimming four or five races in the afternoon and I was just so tired, and I was just happy to be on the podium in some of them,” Hosszu said. “And now I am like, all four of them I came very close to the world record. It’s really amazing and I am really happy that I am improving, and what I am doing is right.
“We have a four-year plan since London [Olympics] and we are halfway there. It seems like we are doing a pretty good job, so we just have keep focused and keep doing the same thing we are doing right now.”
Gyurta, who won the 200m breaststroke gold in Doha with a time of 2:01.06, was also gunning for the world record and was delighted to get it.
“That was my goal before the race – I would like to swim under 2:01 and break my world record,” said Gyurta, who had missed out on the Dubai leg the last two years because of illness.
“So I am really happy.
“In Doha, when I swam 2:01, it was OK for me. But when I was here, it was really amazing, the crowd and the pool. And I really like the desert. I really enjoy being here.”
A new World Cup and Commonwealth record was set when Australia’s Thomas Fraser-Holmes put fatigue aside to win the men’s 400m individual medley in 3:58.69.
The previous World Cup mark was 3:58.84, set by Japan’s Daiya Seto in Berlin last year, while South African ace Chad Le Clos, who took the 100m freestyle and 50m butterfly gold last night, was the owner of the Commonwealth mark (3:59.23).
“I am really happy with the time,” said Fraser-Holmes, who also beat the European 200m and 400m freestyle champion Velimir Stjepanovic in a thrilling finish to the 400m freestyle for his second gold of the night.
“I wanted to be a bit quicker, but I am just really tired right now.
“I just had a big six weeks and my body is not coping with it right now. But I am really happy with those two swims tonight, and I am really looking forward to the next two years leading into Rio [Olympics].”
arizvi@thenational.ae
Follow us on twitter at @SprtNationalUAE