Hosszu also made a memorable World Cup season, getting no less than 39 gold medals (including four titles in Singapore) throughout the eight meets. “It was a lot easier to motivate myself with so many good swimmers to race with. I just tried to win every race I took part in. I planned to swim in many events for this series, and it’s really good training with these fantastic swimmers,” considered the Magyar champion, who bagged, as Kenneth To, US$ 100,000 for her overall win in 2012.
Kenneth To (AUS) and Katinka Hosszu (HUN) are the 2012 World Cup champions - Credit photo: Wong Yoon Wah
In the final classification, Jakabos (second) and Britta Steffen (GER, third) completed the top-3 among women, while George Bovell (TRI), the main challenger of To in the 100m IM was second and Stanislav Donets (RUS) finished third. Donets, together with Steffen, was the only swimmer that managed to win the same event throughout the entire series: he was always the best in the men’s 50m backstroke, while the 2008 Olympic champion from Germany was the fastest in the 100m free (getting the best time of the season precisely in Singapore, thanks to her winning effort of 52.38). The prize money for the second and third placed of the World Cup overall ranking are of US$ 50,000 and US$ 30,000 respectively.
The second day in Singapore was highlighted by the fast triumph of Jeanette Ottesen (DEN) in the women’s 50m butterfly (clocking the best time of the series in 25.42), by the victory of Jessica Hardy (USA) in the 50m breaststroke (her fourth success in 2012), by the sixth successes of Rachel Goh (AUS) in the 100m backstroke (57.34), of Darian Townsend (RSA) in the 200m individual medley (1:54.16) and of Rie Kaneto (JPN) in the women’s 200m breaststroke (2:20.18).