The fifth leg of the Swimming World Cup concluded at the Hamad Aquaatic Centre in Doha yesterday, with Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden and South Africa’s Chad Le Clos keeping their provisional lead of the overall ranking of the competition.
Sjostrom took home five gold medals from Doha, topping the timesheets in the 50m, 100m and 200m free, and also in the 50m and 100m fly. Chad Le Clos was also quite successful in the meet, triumphing in four races – the 50m, 100m and 200m fly, and the 200m free. Sjostrom has now 446 points, while Le Clos leads the men’s chart with 312 points.
The Doha rendezvous also marked the conclusion of the second cluster of the competition – which included the Hong Kong leg last week. For this particular classification, Le Clos was also the best with 153 points, while Katinka Hosszu of Hungary (second overall), pipped Sjostrom with 183 points to Swedish ace’s 180.
In Doha, Hosszu, winner of the World Cup title since 2012, was in great shape, winning five gold medals – 100m and 200m back, 100m, 200m and 400m IM. 
Last night, Sjostrom, who had won gold across the 200m free, 50m free and 100m butterfly on Wednesday, collected two more. The Swede fired off a quick 51.62 to produce the only sub-52 second outing of the 100m freestyle field to top the podium, while also nailing a speedy 24.76 in the 50m butterfly. Runner-up to Sjostrom in each of those races was Dutch Olympic champion Ranomi Kromowidjojo who earned silver in times of 52.19 and 25.25 for the 100m free and 50m fly respectively. ‘Iron Lady’ Hosszu was successful across three events yesterday, cranking out a 100m backstroke winning effort of 56.27. 
That was enough to hold off Aussie World Cup rival Emily Seebohm, who touched just .13 behind for silver after having won the 50m distance of the discipline last night. 
Hosszu made her characteristic mark in the 100m IM as well, claiming the Doha title in 57.26 Sjostrom stopped the clock at 57.60 for a silver. 
In the 400m IM, Hosszu expectedly topped the field in her pet event. Clocking 4:27.94, Hosszu led the race wire-to-wire, with Seebohm the next closest finisher in 4:32.57.
Meanwhile, Chad Le Clos outgunned American Tom Shields in two races yesterday, adding to his 200m butterfly and 50m butterfly golds on the opening night. Le Clos cranked out a quick 1:44.40 to take the men’s 200m freestyle, while Shields settled for silver with his time of 1:45.02.
The two then battled in the 100m butterfly where Le Clos got the leg up once again with a mark of 50.17, although Shields was only .13 behind, touching in 50.30 for another runner-up slot. The South African was able to collect another 861 FINA points by way of his second place tie with Poland’s Radoslaw Kawecki in the men’s 200m backstroke. 
The pair touched in 1:51.02 behind Germany’s Christian Diener, the man who also earned 50m backstroke gold tonight in 23.58 to complete the backstroke sweep in Doha.
 Le Clos also earned silver behind Russia’s Vlad Morozov in the men’s 50m freestyle, an event which saw the Russian earn the only sub-21 second time of the field. Morozov touched in 20.98 for gold, with Le Clos next in line with 21.50 shortly after his 100m butterfly gold.

Qatar to host swimming World Cup for next four years
The President of Qatar Swimming Association Khaleel al-Jabir yesterday revealed that Doha will play host to Swimming World Cup for the next four years until 2021. Al-Jabir said the presence of large number of world-class swimmers has contributed to the tournament’s success.

Top 3 Overall Ranking (after 5 legs)
MEN: 1. Chad Le Clos (RSA), 312 points; 2. Kirill Prigoda (RUS), 201 pts; 3. Vladimir Morozov (RUS), 189 pts
WOMEN: 1. Sarah Sjostrom (SWE), 446 points; 2. Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 359 pts; 3. Ranomi Kromowidjojo (NED), 182 pts

Top-3 Cluster 2 (final)
MEN: 1. Chad Le Clos (RSA), 153 points; 2. Tom Shields (USA), 114 pts; 3. Kirill Prigoda (RUS), 108 pts
WOMEN: 1. Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 183 points; 2. Sarah Sjostrom (SWE), 180 pts; 3. Emily Seebohm (AUS), 96 pts

Results (All Finals)
Women’s: 100m Freestyle: 1. Sarah Sjostrom (SWE) 51.62; 2. Ranomi Kromowidjojo (NED) 52.19; 3. Femke Heemskerk (NED) 52.29
50m breaststroke: 1. Alia Atkinson (JAM) 29.42; 2. Rikke Pedersen (DEN) 30.32; 3. Lena Kreundl (AUT) 31.24
100m Breaststroke: 1. Katinka Hosszu (HUN) 56.27; 2. Emily Seebohm (AUS) 56.40; 3. Deeward Maaike (NED) 58.63
200m Butterfly: 1. Yufei Zhang (CHN) 2:07.43; 2. Wenk Alexandra (GER) 2:08.17; 3. Chan Kin Lok (HKG) 2:08.17
400m Freestyle: 1. Jianjiahe Wang (CHN) 4:02.43; 2. Bingjie Li (CHN) 4:02.58; 3. Duo Shen (CHN) 4:02.94
200m Breaststroke: 1. Rikke Pedersen (DEN) 2:18.86; 2. Alia Atkinson (JAM) 2:26.10; 3. Lisa Zaiser (AUT) 2:28.57
100m Individual Medley: 1. Katinka Hosszu (HUN) 57.26; 2. Sarah Sjostrom (SWE) 57.60; 3. Emily Seebohm (AUS) 58.59
50m Butterfly: 1. Sarah Sjostrom (SWE) 24.76; 2. Ranomi Koromowidjojo (NED) 25.25; 3. Maaike de Waard (NED) 25.87
400m Individual Medley: 1. Katinka Hosszu (HUN) 4:27.94; 2. Emily Seebohm (AUS) 4:32.57; 3. Alexandra Wenk (GER) 4:38.83
 
Men’s 200m Freestyle: 1. Chad Le Clos (RSA) 1: 44.40; 2. Tom Shields (USA) 1:45.40; 3. Kyle Stolk (NED) 1:45.77
100m Breaststroke: 1. Cameron Van Der Burgh (RSA) 56.11; 2. Kirill Prigoda (RUS) 56.31; 3. Ilya Shymanovich (BLR) 56.76
100m Butterfly: 1. Chad Le Clos (RSA) 50.17; 2. Tom Shields (USA) 50.30; 3. Pavel Sakovich (BLR) 50.79
50m Backstroke: 1. Christian Diener (GER) 23.58; 2. Vladmir Morozov (RUS) 23.71; 3. Nelson Junior (BRA) 23.72 
200m IM: 1. Kirill Prigoda (RUS) 1:55.57; 2. Daniil (RUS) 1:56.56; 3. David Foldhazi 1:57.41
50m Freestyle: 1. Vladimir Morozov (RUS) 20.98; 2. Chad Le Clos (RSA) 21.50; 3. Damian Wierling (GER) 21.61
200m Backstroke: 1. Christian Diener (GER) 1:50.96; 2. Radoslaw Kawecki (POL) 1:51.02; 2. Chad Le Clos (RSA) 1:51.02 
1500m Freestyle: 1. Gergely Gyurta (HUN) 14:41.84; 2. Maksym Shemberev (AZE) 14:43.79; 3. Gabriele Detti (ITA) 14:46.75
Mixed 4x50m Freestyle Relay: 1. The Netherlands; 2. Germany; 3. China




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