Hungary’s Daniel Gyurta on his way to beat the World Cup record in the 200m Breaststroke event yesterday. PICTURE: Noushad Thekkayil
Reigning men’s champion Chad Le Clos and Thomas Fraser-Holmes might have been the biggest gainers on the night, winning two events each at the FINA/Mastbank Swimming World Cup for short course yesterday, however, it was Daniel Gyurta of Hungary who stole the show at the Hamad Aquatic Centre by breaking his own World Cup record en route to winning gold in the 200m breaststroke.
Like his compatriot, Katinka Hozzu, who was setting the pool on fire in the women’s section, Gyurta was in prime form too. The 26-year-old from Budapest clocked 2:01:06 seconds, bettering his previous record of 2:01:30 set in Tokyo last year. Incidentally, Gyurta also holds the world record, a 2:00:67 effort set in Istanbul in 2009.
Gyurta mainly won his race on the back-half, splitting 58.58 – 1:02.48. Germany’s Marco Koch (2:01.71) took silver, while Japan’s Yukihiro Takahashi was well back in third with a time of 2:05.14.
South Africa’s Le Clos picked up his first points towards defending his overall World Cup title with a 46.29 second victory in the 100m freestyle. He was pushed in the first 50 metres by Poland’s Konrad Czerniak (46.52), who split 21.96 at the half-way mark to Le Clos’ 22.21. But Le Clos responded coming off of the turn, and pulled ahead of Czerniak for the win. Germany’s Steffen Deibler was third in 47.22.
“I’m really happy to get the win. It’s a personal best time for me and a new record for South Africa. It’s a good preparation for the Worlds here in Doha in December and everyone’s excited to be here,” Le Clos said.
Le Clos might have been rusty in his first event, but in the night’s last event -- 50m butterfly -- the South African was in his elements as he won comfortably clocking 22.17 seconds. Tom Shields, who earlier re-wrote his own American record by winning the 200 butterfly, was second with a timing of 22.63, ahead of another South African Roland Schoeman (22.69).
Another swimmer to hog the limelight was Thomas Fraser-Holmes. The Australian won the 400m Individual medley and 400m freestyle events to set the tone for today’s battle with Le Clos for the overall title.
Fraser-Holmes couldn’t even crack the podium in the 400 IM at the Pan Pac Championships in Gold Coast last week, but yesterday he began his World Cup with an impressive win in 4:00.39 seconds. European Champion David Verraszto of Hungary (4:02.53) came second.
Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia got the biggest cheer from the crowd, but the first Arab male swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal in 2008 Beijing Games, disappointingly came third in 4:07.99.
“I was feeling a bit tired. I have had a big month with Commonwealth and Pac Pacs but I had a good wins tonight. I haven’t swam short course since the last World Cup so it’s going to take a while to get used to but I’ll be alright,” Fraser-Holmes said.
The Australian, however, brought the crowd to its feet in the 400m event, which was a thriller. Fraser-Holmes had won the event in Pan Pacs but in Doha he was given a tough fight by Velimir Stjepanovic, the European Champion.
In fact, it was Stjepanovic who took charge early in the race. He turned halfway in 1:47.91, which was four-tenths seconds better than Fraser-Holmes. However, by the 300 metre mark it was the Australian who surged into the lead. But it was only in the last 50 metres, Fraser-Holmes accelerated away from the young Stjepanovic, and won in 3:39.30 seconds to Serbian’s 3:40.46. Another Tunisian Ahmed Mathlouthi got into podium in third place with a timing of 3:41.05.