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Records continued to fall on the third day of competition at the FINA SC World Championships as Hungarian Swimmer Katinka Hosszu set two and French sprinter claimed one.
Hosszu, who intends to swim a total of ten events at these Championships took the gold and the World Record in the women’s 200m backstroke. Her time of 1:59.23 was almost a full second faster than the previous World Record(2:00.03)set in 2011 by American Missy Franklin.
Australia’s Emily Seebohm finished second while Japan’s Sayaka Akase finished third.
The Hungarian’s second World Record came less than an hour later in the women’s 100m Individual Medley where her time of 56.70 was 0.16 seconds faster than her effort at the start of the short course season in September.
Great Britain’s Siobhan-Marie O’Connor picked up the silver as Emily Seebohm returned to the podium to collect a bronze.
France’s Olympic Champion Florent Manadou proved to the world that beating world marks from the “shiny-suit” era was possible by setting a World Record in the men’s 50m freestyle. His time of 20.26 was 0.04 seconds faster than South African Roland Schoeman’s time from 2009.
“My goal was to win but I didn’t expect to break the record tonight,” he later told the AP.
Italy’s Marco Orsi came second while Brazil’s top qualifier Cesar Cielo managed third.
In addition to the two swimmers, two Nordic countries also claimed a World Record as the evening drew to a close in Doha.
The quartet of Mie Nielsen, Rikke Pedersen, Jeanette Ottesen and Pernille Blume set the women’s 4×50m medley relay record for Denmark before the team from the Netherlands – Inge Dekker, Femke Heemskerk, Maud van der Meer and Ranomi Kromowidjojo collectively swam a time of 3:26.53 for a World Record in the women’s 4×200m freestyle relay.
And earlier, Japan’s Kosuke Hagino caused a major upset by beating American Olympic Champion Ryan Lochte in the men’s 200m Individual Medley, his time of 1:50.47 barely off Lochte’s World Record of 1:49.63. Lochte, unable to defend his title from two years ago bagged a silver as Hagino’s compatriot Daiya Seto, the 400m Individual Medley Champion from yesterday, finished third.
Article by Hugo Lowell