Thirteen freshly crowned Rio 2016 Olympic medallists and four world-record holders will rock the roof of Hamad Aquatic Centre on October 8 and 9 as the FINA airweave Swimming World Cup promises two days of exhilarating action.
Tickets to witness some of the world’s best swimmers go head-to-head cost just QR20 and are available now at Q-tickets.com.
Some of the most exciting and memorable moments of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games took place in the aquatic centre and the stars of the pool will be hungry for further success as the World Cup returns to Doha for a fifth consecutive year.
Amongst them will be four Olympic gold medallists – Japan’s Rie Kaneto, who won the 200m breaststroke; Brittany Elmslie of Australia who helped her team win the 4x100m freestyle relay; Katie Meili of the USA who was part of the winning 4x100m medley relay and won individual bronze in the 100m breaststroke; and Doha crowd favourite multiple Olympic and World Champion, Katinka Hosszu of Hungary, who won three golds at Rio 2016.
Hosszu, overall winner of the World Cup since 2012, is yet again leading the 2016 World Cup standings comfortably after the first cluster and looks to be unstoppable once again as she continues to dominate women’s swimming.
Hoping to close the gap is Alia Atkinson of Jamaica, who is currently lying in third place in the World Cup rankings. Atkinson is in fantastic form and equalled her own world record in the 100m breaststroke at this year’s first meeting in France. Doha will hold a special place in the 27-year-old’s heart after she became the first black woman and first Jamaican to win a world title at the Doha 2014 Short Course World Championships.
In the men’s competition, South African legendary trio Chad le Clos, Cameron Van Der Burgh and Roland Shoeman will all be returning to Doha.
Le Clos returned from Rio with two silver medals and was part of the historic three-way tie for silver in the 100m butterfly. He currently lies second in the 2016 World Cup standings following nine gold medals in the first cluster and will be looking to continue his successful record in Doha, which saw him win three gold medals at the 2014 World Championships and three more golds at last year’s World Cup.
Shoeman lies behind le Clos in second place on the FINA Swimming World Cup all-time heroes list. The reigning world-record holder in the 50m freestyle won gold, silver and bronze in the Athens 2004 Olympics and has three gold, a silver and a bronze World Championship medals.
Van De Burgh claimed second in the Rio 2016 100m breaststroke final to add to his London 2012 gold medal and is currently lying in fourth in the 2016 World Cup rankings. Leading the Men’s 2016 World Cup rankings is Vladmir Morozov of Russia who has already broken the world-record twice this year in the 100m individual medley and will be hoping to maintain his lead in Doha.
Other medallists from Rio 2016 to look out for include: Rikke Pederson of Denmark, the current 200m world-record holder in the women’s breaststroke who won bronze at Rio 2016; Madeline Groves of Australia, who won silver in the 200m butterfly; James Guy who won two silvers for Great Britain in the relays; Pieters Timmers of Belgium who won silver in the 100m freestyle; Josh Prenot of the USA who won silver in the 200m breaststroke, Tom Shields also of the USA who won gold in the 4x100m medley relay and who will be going head-to-head against Chad le Clos in the 100m butterfly; Daiya Seto and Naito Ehara of Japan, who won bronze in the 400m individual medley and 4x200m freestyle relay respectively; and Yuliya Efimova of Russia who won silver in both the 100m and 200m breaststroke.
Speaking about this year’s line-up, Khalil al-Jabir, president of the Qatar Swimming Association, said: “We are pleased to welcome so many Rio 2016 Olympic medallists to Doha for our fifth consecutive FINA airweave Swimming World Cup, ensuring that it promises to be one of the most exciting World Cups that we have hosted to date. This world-class line up is testament to our dedication to swimming and our track-record in hosting excellent swimming events at Hamad Aquatic Centre. We encourage everyone not to miss out on the opportunity to witness this incredible competition taking place on their doorstep and to get their tickets now.”
The World Cup action takes place in the morning and evening of October 8 and 9. Tickets are available through Q-tickets.com and prices are set at QR20 per person per session.
Alia Atkinson
