Katinka Hosszu wins eighth consecutive 400m individual medley

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  • Katinka Hosszu won 30 gold medals in the 2015 World Cup series.

    Katinka Hosszu laughed at the idea of renaming the FINA/airweave Swimming World Cup to the “Iron Lady Cup” but considering she has captured her fourth consecutive overall title of the series on Saturday in Dubai, the governing body of the sport might as well consider it.

    Hosszu, dubbed the Iron Lady for her inconceivable versatility which sees her contest multiple events in multiple strokes each meet, has amassed 152 victories in the World Cup series since 2012, including a whopping 30 gold medals in the 2015 edition, which concluded with its eighth and final stop in Dubai Saturday night.

    The 26-year-old Hungarian, a world champion and world record holder, fittingly topped the podium in the very last event of the World Cup series, completing a sweep in the 400m individual medley across all eight stops, by clocking 4:33.88 – her fastest time of the series (she also swept the 200IM).

    Katinka Hosszu completed a sweep in the 400m individual medley.

    “I was really happy and surprised with my time in the 400IM actually. My best before in this series was 4:36 so coming 4:33, I was really happy with that. I had to try to stay focused, I knew I already won (the series) and I had one more last race, and a pretty hard one, but I’m really happy that I was able to stay focused,” said Hosszu after collecting her $100,000 cheque for winning the overall title, and $50,000 for winning the cluster.

    Hosszu has been pushing the physical and mental boundaries of world swimming and even her colleagues feel she is taking the sport to another level.

    “Katinka did two really world-class swims right before that 400, so she’s just in another league. It’s so impressive to swim next to her and be like near her level of performance because she’s just so inspiring and what she’s done for swimming I think is so great, especially for women in swimming,” said New Zealand’s Lauren Boyle after edging Hosszu in the 400m freestyle to take gold in 4:04.26.

    “I think it’s not just the multiple events thing, she’s so good at the sprints and the 400. Like she’s the world record holder in the 200 medley and she’s so close to the world record in the 400 medley. Her 100 backstroke is so amazing.

    “It’s also that she’s a more mature athlete and she’s reaching these levels at the age of 26 and I think a lot of old school people have in their minds that swimmers have to be young to perform but she’s just showing that her highest strengths are coming as she gets older, so it’s fantastic.”

    Hosszu, who is yet to win an Olympic medal despite being a multiple-time world champion, is proud of what she’s been accomplishing in the sport.

    She’s long proven herself in the 25m pool but this year, with the World Cup series held in 50m Olympic-sized pools for the first time to help swimmers qualify for Rio next year, Hosszu has also shown her mettle in long course.

    “It feels great that she (Boyle) said that. After London 2012 it was on my mind that I really want an Olympic medal. But since then so much has changed that for me actually it’s not really the end goal or the ultimate goal,” explained Hosszu.

    “I really would like to push swimming further and influence the sport that when I stop I’d look back and say ‘wow that was awesome’ and that I really did something that hopefully inspired others as well. So hearing such things it feels great.”

    On winning her fourth World Cup overall crown, and first in the long course pool, she added: “It definitely feels pretty great and gives me a lot of confidence for next year also. That was one thing I was really hoping for before the World Cup that it would help me get better in long course and it definitely did. If I’m looking at my times throughout the eight stops, I swam the fastest here in Dubai. I should be super tired and run down with all the traveling and the races, I swam a lot of races, yet still this was my best stop. I swam the fastest here in all my events.”

    Australian Emily Seebohm was named Swimmer of the Meet and she wrapped up her World Cup season by completing a sweep in the 100m backstroke, winning eight from eight. A three-time gold medallist at Worlds in Kazan this year, Seebohm was going for the world record last night but fell 0.39 seconds short.

    Emily Seebohm (c) was named Swimmer of the Meet.

    “I probably shouldn’t have gone shopping today,” Seebohm said laughing after her win.

    While she may have not broken the world record, she joked that at least she earned some lucrative prize money to cover the designer handbag she picked up from the mall on Saturday.

    “It was awesome to get the clean sweep in the 100. Going sub-59 in the whole way through has been really good. I’m not disappointed at all,” said the 23-year-old Aussie.

    Jamaican Alia Atkinson wanted to go sub-30 seconds in the 50m breaststroke but was still pleased with her gold medal-winning 30.26 last night.

    American Felicia Lee won her third gold of the meet as the Stanford alum clocked 26.69 in the 50m butterfly.

    Turkish 17-year-old Viktoria Zeynep Gunes continued to impress this year as she claimed 200m breaststroke gold in 2:22.87. Gunes is originally Ukrainian but fled her country due to the war there and has been representing Turkey this year. She dazzled at the World Junior Championships last August winning four gold, clocking times that were better than those that won the World Aquatics in Kazan.

    “Oh I’m so happy, because this morning was some difficulties but now, all good,” said an elated Gunes.

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