Hosszu, Le Clos biggest winners at FINA World Cup swimming

Big smiles and countless gold medals, Katinka Hosszu of Hungary and Chad Le Clos of South Africa became the overall champions for second time after eight stops of 2013 FINA Swimming World Cup short course finished here at the Chinese National Aquatics Center here on Thursday, while Australia team set a World Cup record in the mixed 4X50m freestyle relay.

As the busiest swimmer of all, double world champion Hosszu seemed rusty in all her five finals on Thursday evening with no gold medal, but she had silver and bronzes.

Hosszu placed third in 400m IM in 4:27.66 and third again in 100m backstroke in 57.92 while Emily Seebohm of Australia took the champion in 57.22 and Daryna Zevina of Ukraine 57.56 finished second.

In the women's 200m butterfly, Hosszu lost her lead in the last 25m and had to concede to a silver medal in 2:05.25. Hosszu came to a eighth place finisher in the 50m butterfly 27.03 while Sarah Sjoestroem of Sweden won the champion in 25.24.

It was Miireia Belmonte of Spain stopped Hosszu's winning streak by taking victories in 400m individual medley in 4:25.23 and 200m butterfly 2:04.20. Alicia Cutts of Australia won the women's 100m individual medley in 58.08, beating Jamaica's breaststroker Alia Atkinson 58.71 and Hosszu 58.92.

"I've won the whole overall today, though there is no more gold medal, no more world record here. I'm happy with it. It's my second time to be the overall winner. After racing so many events, I was a little bit tired. I think I'm a medley swimmer, I like to swim IM, butterfly, backstroke... I like them all," smiled Hosszu who walked away with the prize money of 100, 000 US dollars.

In other women's events, Shao Yiwen bagged the only gold medal to host China in 400m freestyle in 3:58.92 and Lauren Boyle of New Zealand in 3:59.25 and Belmonte came to third in 3:59.46; Mio Motegi and Sakiko Shimizu gave Japan a 1-3 in women's 200m breaststroke in 2:20.23 and 2:24.56 while He Yun of China came to second in 2:23.80.

Alia Atkinson of Jamaica was the fastest in 50m breaststroke in 29.20, followed by Dorothea Brandt of Germany 30.11 and Suo Ran of China 30.27; Campbell sisters gave Australia a 1-3 finish again in the 100m freestyle as Cate snatched the gold in 51.59 and Bronte in 52.57. Sarah Sjoestroem of Sweden took the silver in 52.41.

Olympic champion Chad Le Clos of South Africa celebrated two victories in 100m butterfly 49.41 by edging Thomas Shields 0.04 second and 200m individual medley 1:52.60, ahead of two Chinese Wang Shun and Mao Feilian 1:53.59 and 1:55.20.

"I knew that Beijing stop would be hard for me, because I'm very tired after so many stops. All I want to do is to make sure I can win as more gold as possible. I'm happy with my two golds and happy to be the overall winner for the second time. My last overall was won in 2011," said Le Clos who has no plan on how to use his prize money.

Vladimir Morozov of Russia dominated in his strong event 50m freestyle in 20.91, ahead of Anthony Ervin of United States 21.07 and Roland Schoeman of South Africa 21.11. Morozov also finished 5th in 50m backstroke in 24.09 and a silver in 100m breaststroke in 57.39.

"I swim three finals in three strokes tonight. It's a little bit too much. I need more time to recover, so my 50m freestyle is not as good as I expected. But it's my personal best in breaststroke. I like sprint events in different strokes, but freestyle is my best. Next year I need to train a lot to get ready for the European Championships and World Championships," Morozov said.

In other men's events, Hao Yun of China led first 1300m before Myles Brown of South African had a strong comeback in the last 300m, winning men's 1500m freestyle in 14:41.63. Hao and Gergely Gyurta of Hungary finished second and third 14:42.38 and 14:45.53.

Thomas Fraser-Holmes of Australia won in men's 200m freestyle 1:43.09 while Robert Hunley of Australia 1:43.67 and Pawl Korzeniowsky of Poland 1:43.69; 100m breaststroke gold is taken by Daniel Gyrta of Hungary 57.34 and Eugene Godsoe of United States completed a clean sweep in man's backstroke by adding two more golds in the 50m in 23.07 and 200m in 1:51.29 to his previous victory in 100m on Nov. 13.

Tommaso D'Orsogna, Travis Mahoney, Cate Campbell and Bronte Campbell of Australia drove the local fans crazy by breaking the World Cup record in the mixed 4X50m freestyle in 1:30.52. China and Brazil came to second and third in 1:30.89 and 1:31.45.