Katinka Hosszu shines as Chad le Clos gold rush goes on at Fina event
Hungarian breaks World Cup record, as South African remains unbeaten
Hungarian star Katinka Hosszu brought the curtain down on the Fina/Mastbank World Cup with a record-breaking run to end the short course meet with 10 gold medals at Victoria Park on Tuesday night.
Hosszu, the overall World Cup standings leader, continued where she left off as she splashed to success in the women's 400m individual medley, 100m backstroke, 200m butterfly, 400m freestyle and 100m individual medley.
She won five gold medals on Monday night, but increased the tempo at the recently opened venue before an almost full house of 1,500.
I held the previous record in Dubai and now I got 10, but who is counting, right?
The Hungarian competed in six events last night and won all but one, taking home silver in the 50m butterfly behind the Netherlands' unbeaten Inge Dekker. Her 10 gold medals improved her own World Cup record she set last month when she won eight gold medals in the last leg of the series in Dubai.
"I held the previous record in Dubai and now I got 10, but who is counting, right?," laughed 25-year-old Hosszu, nicknamed the "Iron Lady".
"I'm really happy. The 100m backstroke was a European record [55.34 seconds], so I felt really good. The 50m fly, my last race, it was still a Hungarian national record [25.92], so I'm happy with that as well. I'm definitely pretty pleased and I'm looking forward to racing in Moscow [the next leg of the series on Saturday]. I won a lot of [World Cup] points, so I can't wait to race again in a few days."
Hosszu was in supreme form as she disposed of her rivals in the 400m individual medley, winning in four minutes, 26.42 seconds. That time was way off her world mark of 4:20:83, but she won the race with almost seven seconds to spare over Mireia Belmonte of Spain in second at 4:33.83 and Evelyn Verraszto of Hungary third in 4:39.70.
Hosszu returned to the pool to win the 200m butterfly, her third gold of the night.
She clocked 2:05:12, well outside the world mark of 2:00.78 set by China's Liu Zige in 2009.
Meanwhile, Jamaica's Alia Atkinson continued to surprise when she secured her second gold. The 25-year-old won the women's 50m breaststroke and was thrilled with another gold finish. "It's been exciting for me so far. My 100m breaststroke time was faster than the 50m. Maybe I am not into the sprinting part yet," said Atkinson.
South African star Chad le Clos won both his events on Tuesday night to make it four out of four and he was particularly pleased with his men's 50m freestyle victory.
"I've never done 50m free before [in a major competition]," laughed Le Clos, the London Games Olympic champion in the 200m butterfly, who also won the 100m butterfly last night. "I wanted to keep my adrenalin going having won seven golds in the first two legs [of the World Cup series]. It's now 11 out of 11," said the 22-year-old.
