THE official mixed 200 free relay world record was set tonight at the FINA World Cup in Moscow, while Katinka Hosszu had a busy night.

Men’s 1500 free
South Africa’s Myles Brown, who already tossed up a third-ranked 14:30.54 at the Eindhoven stop earlier this summer, raced his way to his second tour stop win with a 14:43.52 in the men’s 1500-meter freestyle to start the night. South Africa has had a strong meet so far with Brown, Chad Le Clos and Roland Schoeman all making noise with event wins.
Brazil’s Lucas Kanieski finished more than a second behind with a 14:44.66, while Hungary’s Gergely Gyurta faded to third with a 14:46.17 after leading early on.

Women’s 400 IM
The Iron Lady picked up right where she left off last night, with another podium finish as Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu snagged the distance medley crown in 4:30.65. That’s her seventh podium of the meet, and second gold. It’s not even close to the speed she had in Berlin when she blasted a world record 4:20.85 for the win, but this stop has been relatively slower outside of the amazing women’s breaststroke events.
Japan’s Miyu Otsuka took a distant second in the finale with a time of 4:32.35, while Spain’s Mireia Belmonte wound up third in 4:36.55.
Hungary’s Evelyn Verraszto (4:40.82), Russia’s Victoria Malyutina (4:40.82), Russia’s Yuliya Larina (4:43.48), Japan’s Miho Takahashi (4:44.40) and Ukraine’s Ganna Dzerkal (4:46.41) rounded out the top eight in the timed final event.

Women’s 100 back
Ukraine’s Daryna Zevina collected her third first-place check of the meet as she easily blasted the field in the 100 back with a 56.91. No one was even with a second of the Ukrainian as her backstroke prowess this weekend had earned her some serious cash with $1,500 for each and every victory.
Japan’s Sayaka Akase raced to second in 58.25, while the World Cup Queen Katinka Hosszu snared her EIGHTH podium of the meet. She clocked a 58.75 for third-place honors as she continues to pile up record numbers of dollars on the circuit. Russia’s Daria Ustinova (59.26), Russia’s Polina Lapshina (59.51), Russia’s Alexandra Papusha (59.85), Russia’s Nadezhda Vinyukova (1:00.02) and Russia’s Alina Kendzior (1:01.54) wrapped up the rest of the finale.

Women’s 200 fly
The Iron Lady Katinka Hosszu collected her third gold medal of the meet, second of the night and NINTH podium appearance thus far as she rolled to a 2:06.80 for the win. Hosszu has a much stronger butterfly in her back pocket with a 2:02 from the World Short Course Championships, but she didn’t need it as she conserved energy en route to another paycheck.
Great Britain’s Sophie Allen posted a second-place time of 2:07.92, while Spain’s Mireia Belmonte picked up another cash prize with a third-place time of 2:10.77. Russia’s Daria Shmakova (2:11.58), Anastasia Guzhenkova (2:12.94), Victoria Malyutina (2:14.22), Irina Nazarova (2:15.43) and Anastasia Lyazeva (2:16.78) also competed in the finale.

Men’s 200 IM
South Africa’s Chad le Clos backed up his victory in the fly earlier in the night with a double this evening as he held off Australia’s Kenneth To with a 1:53.04 for the win in the 200 IM. To, meanwhile, finished second in 1:54.91, while Poland’s Pawel Korzeniowski claimed third in 1:56.42.  The top three swimmers have all picked up significant cash this weekend with repeated appearances during the awards podium ceremony breaks here in Moscow.  Brazil’s Henrique Rodrigues (1:56.54), Hungary’s David Verraszto (1:56.88), Russia’s Dmitry Gorbunov (1:57.26), Russia’s Sergey Kashperskiy (1:58.33) and Russia’s Alexander Tikhonov (1:58.42) comprised the rest of the championship heat.

Women’s 400 free
Spain’s Melanie Costa coasted to victory in the women’s middle distance event. She turned in a 4:01.71 to win my more than three seconds as she put up a leisurely time to earn a first-place paycheck. Spanish teammate Mireira Belmonte, the world record holder with a 3:54.52 at the Berlin stop in August, took second in 4:04.77, while backstroke specialist Daryna Zevina of Ukraine picked up third in 4:05.03. Germany’s Sarah Kohler (4:05.44), Sweden’s Louise Hansson (4:06.95), Russia’s Elizaveta Gorshkova (4:13.33) and China’s Chen Ziyi (4:15.72) finished fourth through seventh. Katinka Hosszu either decided to extend her warmdown period intentionally, or just plain finally hit the bottom of her gas tank in her attempt at a 10th potential podium. She finished eighth in 4:20.07 after already having claimed nine medals here in Moscow.

Women’s 100 IM
Anytime you have a scary sprint breaststroke on your resume, you are automatically a threat in the sprint medley, and Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte demonstrated that fully tonight. Meilutyte blazed the sprint medley with a time of 58.57 after coming home in 30.92 to overtake the world-record holder Katinka Hosszu.
Hosszu, meanwhile, clocked a 58.75 for second to capture her 10th podium of the meet following a warmdown swim during the 400 freestyle. It is astonishing the type of versatility Hosszu presents at these FINA World Cup meets, and is why she’s raking in the dough both for her swimming and also in sponsorship deals.
Jamaica’s Alia Atkinson wrapped up the podium with a third-place time of 59.12, while Germany’s Theresa Michalak also broke 1:00 with a fourth-place 59.34. Great Britain’s Sophie Allen (1:00.38), Sweden’s Louise Hansson (1:00.96), Hungary’s Evelyn Verraszto (1:01.76) and Russia’s Veronika Popova (1:01.85) also competed in the finale.

Women’s 50 fly
Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom powered her way to another gold medal. This time, she clocked a sizzling 25.56 to take home the sprint fly as the final individual title of the weekend. That’s four golds for the sensational Swedish sprinter, who definitely knew which events to focus on for her biggest return.
The Netherlands’ Inge Dekker picked up second-place honors in 25.97, while Singapore’s Li Tao finished third in 25.99. Russia’s Rozaliya Nasretdinova (26.29), Russia’s Daria Tcvetkova (26.31), Germany’s Dorothea Brandt (26.65), Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu (26.98) and Russia’s Anastasia Lyazeva (27.05) also vied for the title. That’s Hosszu’s 12th final of the meet, having claimed a medal in 10 of those attempts.

Ironman last week announced its calendar for the 2014 IRONMAN European Tour adding three new races, IRONMAN Mallorca in Alcudia, Spain on 27th September 2014, IRONMAN 70.3 Aarhus in Denmark on 22nd June 2014 and IRONMAN 70.3 Budapest on August 23th 2014.

“We’re very excited about being able to provide European athletes with even more opportunities to experience the lifestyle and quality unique to IRONMAN events. Athletes have requested we publish our race calendar earlier so they can plan their season accordingly, and today’s announcement clearly shows we are listening,” says Thomas Dieckhoff, IRONMAN’s CEO of Europe, Middle East and Africa. “A complete guide to the 2014 IRONMAN European season is in the making and will be available for download soon.”

After Berlin and Copenhagen, Hungary’s capital of Budapest will become the third European capital to host an IRONMAN race. “Budapest is a perfect addition to our existing IRONMAN 70.3 race schedule. Competitors will be surrounded by the sights and sounds of a major European city; crossing its landmark chain bridge as the race course takes them to both parts of the city – Buda and Pest,” says Kai Walter, IRONMAN’s COO of Europe, Middle East and Africa.

While Budapest is new IRONMAN territory, IRONMAN Mallorca clearly builds on the success of the Thomas Cook IRONMAN 70.3 Mallorca race (May 10th 2014), which has quickly gained a reputation as being a perfect season-opener among athletes.

 

After a controversial loss to current British champion Kevin Satchell, Jerviston’s Iain Butcher (8-1) returns to action and is looking to bag the vacant WBO European Title as he takes on Hungarian Gabor Molnar (13-3) at the Ravenscraig Sports Centre on Friday October 11th, Eurosport reports.

Eurosport according, Butcher expecting a tough nights work against Hungarian Molnar.  Promoter Paul Graham expects a tough nights work for Butcher: “Gabor comes in with 13 wins, and nine of those are by knock down, so it is something that we have to be aware of. Iain has been back in the gym for a while and is looking forward to getting back to the ring.

“If he is successful, then he will get a ranking in the top 15 in the world, which will only help with his long term ambition of challenging for a World title at some point, but that aside we are focused on October 11th and getting the win and back to winning ways.”

Australian and Hungarian triathletes dominated the men’s and women’s divisions of the first Safeguard Active 5150 Triathlon on Sunday that started at a seaside resort in Morong, Bataan.

Mitch Robins of Sydney, Australia clocked 2 hours, 5 minutes and 22 seconds to become the first male winner in this inaugural event, beating Hungarian rivals Csaba Kuttor (2:06:17) and Peter Bajai (2:08:18).

Robins timed 20:35 in the 1.5-kilometer swim leg, 1:06:51 in the 40-km bike leg and 35:57 in the 10-km run leg to capture the crown under humid conditions.

Sweden’ Frederik Croneborg came in at fourth place in 2:09:26, while Michael Murphy, an Australian who the 2012 Northern Triathlon in Germany and finished third in the 2013 Century Tuna Triathlon in Subic Freeport, came in fi fth with a time of 2:11:13.

Robins went home with $2,000 and a trophy, while Kuttor and Bajai pocketed $1,250 and $850, respectively, in the event sanctioned by the World Triathlon Corporation. “I struggled in swimming, but good thing I was able to keep up and get ahead in the bike and run legs,” said the long-haired, 27-year-old Robins.

Hungarian Eszter Dudas, meanwhile, crossed the finished line way ahead of her rivals to rule the distaff side, timing 2:21:32.

Australia’s Belinda Granger clocked 2:28:12 for second place, while Filipino bet Monica Torres took the third-place honors in 2:32:25 A total 350 men and women competed in the first edition of the competition organized by Sunrise Events and Safeguard.

Antwerp (AFP) – Japanese star Kohei Uchimura kept his bid for an unprecedented fourth men’s all-around title on track by dominating qualifying at the world championships here on Tuesday.

The big shock was the elimination of Hungary’s Krisztian Berki, the Olympic pommel horse champion, who fell off the vault.

Olympic champion Uchimura scored 91.924 points to put him ahead of American Sam Mikulak (89.532), compatriot Ryohei Kato (89.474) and China’s Lin Chaopan (89.430) with the top 24 advancing to Thursday’s final.

The 24-year-old Uchimura can also target two other medals this weekend – on the floor where he will defend his title and the high bar.

This year’s world championships are for all-around and apparatus events only, with no team competition taking place.