WATER SPORT - Two World Cup records and three world junior records fell on the final night of the Tokyo leg of the FINA/airweave Swimming World Cup on Wednesday.
Sarah Sjostrom (SWE) and Daiya Seto (JPN) set competition bests, while teen ace Rikako Ikee (JPN) lowered two of her own world junior marks and Bingjie Li (CHN) claimed one in the 400m free.
Sjostrom’s performances pushed her within touching distance of the overall title, while Chad Le Clos (RSA) laid one hand on the men’s crown, even though both suffered setbacks.
The Swede clocked 55.07sec in the 100m fly, lowering the four-year-old World Cup record of 55.30 set by Alicia Coutts (AUS), with runner-up Ikee taking her world junior standard down by 0.43sec to 55.99.
Sjostrom was, however, edged out in the 50m free by Ranomi Kromowidjojo (NED), who stopped the clock at 23.29, just ahead of the Swede in 23.34.
“I’m very happy with my 100 fly, it was not a perfect race at all — I swam the 50m free OK just before that. I still have a lot of things to work on. I can still improve my swimming and details a lot — I make a lot of mistakes in my races and I can still improve,” said Sjostrom.
Katinka Hosszu (HUN) claimed the 250th gold of her World Cup career when winning the first race of the night, the 100m IM. She came home in 57.38, ahead of Ikee — who sliced 0.49sec off another of her world junior bests, this time to 57.75 — and arch-rival Emily Seebohm (AUS).
“I was confident in each race and that was the key to breaking the records. I will miss my junior days, but to get a medal at the Olympics in 2020 I will have to do enough training to compete with similar and older athletes. This summer I did not get the results I was hoping for, but I hope next year I will not experience the same regret and so I will keep doing my best,” said Ikee.
Seebohm and Hosszu locked horns again in the 200m back, and the Aussie gained revenge, eventually pulling back long-time leader Regan Smith (USA) in a thrilling duel over the final 50m, with Hosszu back in third.
“That’s the way I’ve been swimming my 200s for a while now. It really helps me a lot and, especially with that 100 IM so close I really wanted to save as much as I could the first half. I’ll go to Singpaore now, and it’s one step closer to going home, which is always nice. I guess it’s been a long six months and I’m ready to relax a bit before getting back in shape for the Commonwealth Games,” said Seebohm.
Sjostrom came into the meet with 515 points, 111 ahead of Hosszu, with Seebohm fourth on 210, just 17 behind Kromowidjojo.
