At the FINA/Mastbank Swimming World Cup leg in Doha today, Hungary’s “Iron Lady” Katinka Hosszu set a new short course world record, clocking impressive 2:02.61 in the 200 meters individual medley where her own world record from the Eindhoven leg of the 2013 World Cup series was 2:03.20.
Read FINA
The LEN Bureau voted in favour of Glasgow as the host of the 2018 European Championships in swimming, diving, synchronised swimming and open water swimming.
Glasgow emerged as the winner of the bidding procedure for the 2018 European Championships. President Paolo Barelli announced the result after the LEN Bureau meeting held in Berlin during the 32nd Europeans. The continental showcase will visit Scotland for the very first time in its history.
“The new policy of LEN is to choose major European cities in order to ensure the best possible conditions to the continent’s elite swimmers, divers, synchro swimmers and open water swimmers and to all representatives of our national federations†Paolo Barelli said. “The LEN Bureau acted in this sense while choosing Glasgow. Everyone had the chance to watch the outstanding success of the Commonwealth Games, recently held in the city. Organising that event at such a high level is a kind of guarantee for us for 2018.â€
The LEN President added: “We are very much looking forward to see our European Championships being hosted in wonderful venues in 2018 and our great athletes of the four disciplines enjoying the warm hospitality of the people of Scotland.â€
Paolo Barelli also noted that by taking this decision here in Berlin, four years before the start, “LEN is envisioning the need to allocate our most important events well in advance in order to secure enough time to our hosts to prepare everything the best possible way and be ready to stage a wonderful show, worthy of a worldwide attention and success.â€
Members of the Glasgow bidding delegation were delighted after learning the LEN Bureau decision. Cabinet Secretary for Commonwealth Games and Sport Shona Robison said: “I am delighted that Glasgow has been chosen as the host of the 2018 European Swimming Championships. This is a hugely important event, won through a strategic partnership including EventScotland, Glasgow City Council and British Swimming, which will give us the opportunity for us to further the profile of swimming in Scotland.
Scotland is the perfect stage for events, and we have already demonstrated that we have the world-class professional facilities needed for an event such as this with the Tollcross International Swimming Centre, Strathclyde Country Park and Edinburgh’s Royal Commonwealth Pool as part of the Commonwealth Games.â€
Councillor Gordon Matheson, Leader of Glasgow City Council, said: “The decision by LEN to choose Glasgow as the host for the championships in 2018 is a direct legacy from hosting the Commonwealth Games where the swimming events were among the highlights with capacity crowds and incredible performances contributing to what have been declared the best ever Games. I was delighted to welcome LEN President Paolo Barelli to Tollcross during the Games to discuss bringing this event to our world-class venue and to showcase our capacity to deliver excellent, innovative and exciting sporting events.â€
Press release from LEN
To hear packed arena of race-excited swim spectators spontaneously burst out laughing … yeah, that was pretty neat ! :-)
That swag !
Just weeks after announcing his retirement from competitive swimming, WA sport star Eamon Sullivan is preparing to take the plunge on Dancing with the Stars
The triple Olympian and former world record holder is taking up the challenge of learning ballroom dancing for this year’s reality TV dance competition.
The only problem is – he says he has two left feet.
Read The West Australian
SD comment: I don’t know, he was pretty good in ‘A League Of Their Own’ ! :-P
Moments after confirming she is the world’s fastest woman in water Australia’s Cate Campbell revealed she is willing to risk losing that title in 2015 if it means overcoming a shoulder complaint by the Rio Olympics.
Campbell already had rivals shaking in their boots after capping a stunning Pan Pacific championships on the Gold Coast by clinching 50m freestyle gold on Sunday night in the fastest time in a textile suit (23.96 seconds).
But her foes no doubt were left shaking their heads in astonishment after Campbell revealed she had achieved her remarkable success while nursing a chronic shoulder injury.
Read ABC
http://youtu.be/K5BAmGh9cI0
A total of 23 athletes at the first Youth Olympics in Singapore in 2010 went on win Olympic medals in 2012. Perhaps the most memorable was South African swimmer Chad le Clos, who beat Michael Phelps in the 200m butterfly.
Le Clos, now 22, was far more successful at the Youth Olympics, where he won five medals, including silver in the 200m fly.
“It taught me a lot of lessons that I wouldn’t have learned,†le Clos said. “A lot of people told me when I was younger that I wasn’t going to be a great butterfly swimmer. I shouldn’t even try to compete. Look at me a couple years later.â€
See NBC
The 2014 edition of the FINA/Mastbank Swimming World Cup will kick-off in Doha (QAT) on August 27-28 with the presence of many stars aiming at shining in this prestigious 25m-pool circuit. Among them, the 2013 winners of the series, Chad Le Clos (RSA) in the men’s field and Katinka Hosszu (HUN) in the women’s category.
At the Hamad Aquatic Centre, around 150 swimmers from 30 countries will compete over the 36 events on the programme. Besides Le Clos and Hosszu, other athletes to watch include Ashley Delaney and Robert Hurley (both from Australia), Sanja Jovanovic (CRO), Mireia Belmonte (ESP), Daniel Gyurta (HUN), Fabio Scozzoli (ITA), Alia Atkinson (JAM), Inge Dekker (NED), Pawel Korzeniowski (POL), Roland Schoeman (RSA), George Bovell (TRI), Oussama Mellouli (TUN) and Daryna Zevina (UKR).
The FINA/Mastbank Swimming World Cup 2014 comprises seven legs distributed on three clusters, according to the following schedule:
Cluster 1
- August 27-28, Doha (QAT)
- August 31-September 1, Dubai (UAE)
Cluster 2
- September 29-30, Hong Kong (HKG)
- October 4-5, Moscow (RUS)
Cluster 3
- October 24-25, Beijing (CHN)
- October 28-29, Tokyo (JPN)
- November 1-2, Singapore (SIN)
In order to reward the best athletes and performances, a total of nearly US$ 2 million is available and includes the prize money provided at each meet, cluster, and overall ranking, plus bonuses for the establishment of World Records.
The FINA/Mastbank Swimming World Cup 2014 can be followed on the FINA website thanks to a live TV streaming and live info feed for the finals at each meet.
HOT LINKS
– News
– Results
– Live TV streaming
– Live Info Feed
– Media Book
– Rules & Regulations
Britain secure top spot on the medal table
With three more titles on the last day Great Britain secured the first place both in the swimming medal table and in the overall. The Team Trophy went to Italy. The Danish women’s medley relay set a new European Record – that was also a new Championship Record, the 29th CR of this edition. Russia’s Nedezhda Bazina won the last title on offer, winning the 3m in diving.
Fran Halsall opened the British marching on the last day by winning the 50m free, later she added a bronze in the medley relay, her 5th medal in Berlin. Then Jazmin Carlin won the 400m free, it was her second title (note that the silver medallist Sharon van Rouwendaal of the Netherlands and the bronze medallist Mireia Belmonte of Spain both stood on the podium in the open water events as well). And to secure a perfect ending to the championships, the Brit’s men medley relay team also triumphed.
GB’s Adam Peaty won his 4th gold overall in the relay team – the same feat Florent Manaudou reached a bit earlier when he clinched the title of the men’s 50m free.
Sarah Sjoestroem and Katinka Hosszu also piled up some medals: the Swede finished with 7, adding two silver to her tally after coming second in the 50m breast and in the medley relay while Hosszu got her 6th by finishing third in the 200m fly. The Hungarian Iron Lady got 5 individual medals (including 3 gold) just as Mireia Belmonte (ESP) who won the 200m fly on Sunday and later got a bronze in the 400m free – the best individual efforts at these Europeans.
Ruta Meilutyte (LTU) staged a rather successful globetrotting: after winning gold medals at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing (CHN) she flew in for the last two days of the Europeans and clinched the title of the 50m breast.
David Verraszto completed Hungary’s swept of the individual medley titles by winning the 400m (Hosszu won both in the women’s field, Laszlo Cseh got the men’s 200m) – it was his first title in long-course pool.
As the highlight of the day the Danish women medley relay set a new European record with 3:55.62min – it was the 4th continental mark of the meet. Thanks to this gold the Danes clinched the second place in the swimming medal table, ahead of Hungary and Italy.
The last title was on offer in the diving pool, where a real drama unfolded in the women’s 3m event. For most of the time Tania Cagnotto was in the lead and the Italian was en route to repeat her historic feat of winning three gold medals in one edition (just as in 2009), she held a 12-point lead before the last dive but she couldn’t come up with a clean attempt and that cost her the title which went to Russia’s Nadezhda Bazina.As a consolation, she – just as Patrick Hausding – received the 2013 LEN Award from LEN President Paolo Barelli.
Soon after, in the frame of a short closing ceremony, Mr. Barelli thanked for Berlin, the LOC and the German Federation for hosting this great event which was outstanding success again. As a final act, LOC President Christa Thiel handed over the LEN Flag to David Sparkes, CEO of British Swimming, as London will be the next host of the European Championships.
See you there in 2016!
Press release from LEN
Images courtesy of deepbluemedia.eu
Medal hunt: three top the overall with 8 gold apiece
Two more gold medals in the dash events kept the Brits atop of the swimming medal table and rocketed them to the first place in the overall. The competitions in the pools are really exciting but rarely was the hunt for the medals so balanced as in Berlin: the first three countries (GBR, RUS, ITA) stand with 8 gold apiece in the overall. In swimming Poland also enjoyed a fine day with two titles – in diving Germany’s Patrick Hausding couldn’t equal his 5-medal winning performance of 2010.
The dash events brought two more titles for Great Britain: though Adam Peaty couldn’t repeat his World record-breaking rush in the 50m breast – admittedly committed a mistake at the start –, he collected his second individual title in Berlin. Fran Halsall’s new love for backstroke got a great push today as she managed to out-touch her team-mate Georgia Davies by 0.01sec and came off with a gold in her very first big international race in this stroke.
The Polish waited the penultimate day of the Europeans with high hopes and their aces were up to the task. In 100m fly, Konrad Czerniak, clocking the best time in the heats and having medals in this event from the previous two World Champs, did a clean job, he won the title with a margin of 0.51sec ahead of Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh.
Radoslaw Kawecki (POL) has been ruling the European field in recent years, he was the title-holder, won the last three s/c Europeans and had a silver from the 2013 World Champs so it was no surprise that he reached the wall way ahead of the rest, gaining more than 1sec on the field.
In the women’s 1500m Mireia Belmonte (ESP) earned her first gold medal in Berlin, while in the 200m Federica Pellegrini (ITA) showed her class again while keeping Katinka Hosszu (HUN) at bay: the Italian did a splendid job in the second half of the race.
The home crowd also had something to cheer for: the 4x200m free relay offered tremendous excitements, the French were in front during the first three legs, the Russians chased them and the Germans were also close. During the last leg the Velodrom was almost blown up as Paul Biedermann started to erase the hosts’ deficit. For the last 50m it was clear that the Germans would retain their title, Biedermann’s split (1:44.95) was by far the best individual effort, the Russians came second and a bit surprisingly the Belgians also managed to pass the French.
In diving Patrick Hausding’s attempt to repeat his 2010 performance of winning 5 medals in as many events failed on the last day: he finished 4th in the men’s platform after a thrilling final. Russia’s Victor Minibaev was simply too good, he just couldn’t make any mistake, all but one of his dives were close to 100 points or even received higher totals. Mark 10s appeared on the scoreboard after three of his dives, the last one received four 10s for 106.20 points, even Minibaev described it as his best dive ever.
Tom Daley (GBR) added a silver to his tally this time: the Brit came up with a bit of unbalanced performance, he saw a couple of 10s after two of his dives but also made two mistakes – still, it was enough for the silver.
Ironically and ultimately it was Hausding’s synchro team-mate Sascha Klein (GER) who prevented the Berliner from earning his fifth medal in his home pool. Klein produced a more solid performance this time so he got the bronze while Hausding had to settle for the 4th place. Though with three gold and a silver in his bag he doesn’t have to be too disappointed, after all.
Among the women Tania Cagnotto came a step closer to repeat her hat-trick of 2009: after the 1m she won the 3m synchro with Francesca Dallape and has a great chance to get the third gold in the 3m, the very last event of these Europeans on Sunday.
Press release from LEN
Images courtesy of deepbluemedia.eu
