Katinka finishes with eight golds at Swimming World Cup in Dubai

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  • Steaming ahead: Katinka broke the 100m medley record yesterday.

    Katinka Hosszu wrapped up a sensational two days at the Hamdan Sports Complex by adding another world record, four gold medals and one bronze, to her tally to officially win the first cluster of the FINA Swimming World Cup series, which included the meets in Doha and Dubai.

    The superhuman Hungarian concluded the action in Dubai with eight gold medals from nine events, settling for bronze in the 50m butterfly, which was her final event of the World Cup here.

    In the opening leg in Doha, she had made 10 podium appearances including seven gold and three world records.

    The 25-year-old smashed a fourth world best mark on opening night in Dubai in the 200m medley and made it five world records in six days with a new timing of 56.86 seconds in the 100m medley heats yesterday, becoming the first woman in history to go under 57 seconds in the event.

    “I’m so excited, I shouldn’t have gone that fast,” Hosszu said in disbelief after improving on her record time from last week in Doha by 0.39 seconds.

    “In track and field when they do the high jump, you set the bar at a certain height and you can always break more records but swimming is not the same, you just have to give what you have and I’m really excited that I went under 57 (seconds).”

    The appropriately-nicknamed Iron Lady earned $82,500 (Dh303,000) in total yesterday – $12,500 (Dh45,900) for her nine medals, $50,000 (Dh183,000) for winning the cluster and $10,000 (Dh36,000) for each of her two world records.

    “I feel pretty tired and I’m very hungry so I think I’m going to have a huge dinner,” were her first words after receiving her awards.

    “We’re flying to Singapore tomorrow. I’m going to be participating in the Singapore Swim Stars on Friday but I think we can relax a little bit. I will definitely not train as hard the next couple of days.”

    Hosszu, who had set six world records en route to winning the World Cup series last year, already has her eye on more and came close to setting new times in the 100m and 200m backstroke and 200m freestyle in Dubai. 

    Her 55.38s swim in the 100m back heats yesterday was just 0.15 seconds shy of the world record and she was unable to swim any faster in the evening final.

    “After a 400IM it’s always more difficult to swim than when you’re fresh,” she said of her slower time in the final. 

    “It’s funny that in Doha I swam the exact same time in the morning, 55.38 (world record is 55.23), which I’m pretty happy about because it’s a European record. 

    “It’s definitely a great time for me. I can be mad or a little bit angry that I didn’t get the world record but I dropped two seconds off my best so I should be happy. 

    “Of course when it’s so close you really want it but I think I will have other chances to get it. I was close in the morning in the 200 freestyle yesterday and the 200 backstroke so I’m pretty happy and amazed how I did because I never thought I’d be so close to the world record in so many races.”

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