Katinka Hosszu, Vladimir Morozov lead after three legs of Fina Swimming World Cup

Hungarian swim star Katinka Hosszu at the Fina World Cup Singapore 2019. (PHOTO: Singapore Swimming Association/Simone Castrovillari)
Hungarian swim star Katinka Hosszu at the Fina World Cup Singapore 2019. (PHOTO: Singapore Swimming Association/Simone Castrovillari)

SINGAPORE — They are regular winners at the Fina Swimming World Cup, so it was fitting that Vladimir Morozov and Katinka Hosszu emerged as Cluster One winners of this year’s series, following the completion of the Singapore leg on Saturday (17 August).

Both swimmers won three events to take the overall leads after the three-day meet at the OCBC Aquatic Centre, which is the third leg of the swimming series after Tokyo and Jinan, China.

Hosszu, the Hungarian star who holds the all-time Swimming World Cup record with 303 individual victories, also regains pole position in the overall women’s series rankings and leads Australia’s Cate Campbell by six points.

The 30-year-old broke the 200m individual medley World Cup record during the morning heats on Saturday, clocking 2min 8.15sec, breaking her own mark of 2:08.61 set in Dubai in 2015.

After winning the final in 2:08.63, she said, “I’m happy how I did in the morning; it’s the best moment of the competition in Singapore. My performance here has set me up for the rest of the year – I will be swimming the other legs of the Fina Swimming World Cup and the International Swimming League as well.”

Morozov was equally pleased with his Singapore performance. The Russian broke two World Cup records to extend his overall men’s series lead over the United States’ Andrew Wilson to 27 points.

Russian swim star Vladimir Morozov (left) at the Fina World Cup Singapore 2019. (PHOTO: Singapore Swimming Association/Simone Castrovillari)
Russian swim star Vladimir Morozov (left) at the Fina World Cup Singapore 2019. (PHOTO: Singapore Swimming Association/Simone Castrovillari)

The 27-year-old, who has amassed 100 individual wins with his three victories in Singapore, said, “I swam nine races in Cluster One and won nine. It feels amazing, I think it couldn't be any better. This was the plan the whole way: to lead with the first cluster and hopefully clinch that (overall) win at the end.”

While the Australian swimmers dominated the first two days of the World Cup series with 11 golds, the US asserted their presence on day three with four wins, as Erica Sullivan (women’s 800m freestyle), Michael Andrew (men’s 50m butterfly), Wilson (men’s 200m breaststroke) and the mixed 4x100m medley team triumphant.

The World Cup series will move to Europe for the next three legs, starting with the Budapest leg from 4 to 6 October. The series will end in Doha in November.

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