Chad le Clos added four more medals to his growing tally in Budapest. Photo by FINA
Chad le Clos claimed a treasure chest full of medals at the Budapest leg of the FINA Swimming World Cup over the weekend.
The four-time Olympic medallist won two gold medals and two silver in a repeat of the Eindhoven leg from a week ago.
His efforts in the final meet of the second cluster were unfortunately not good enough to propel him up the series rankings and
200m butterfly
Le Clos was on fire in his pet event racing below the world record split over the first half of the race swimming from the outside lane.
The South African sensation held on for a comfortable victory touching ahead of Japan’s Daiya Seto in a time of one minute, 50.29 seconds (1:50.29).
Seto gained on the South African over the final 50 metres of the race finishing second in 1:51.01 with compatriot Yuya Yajima finishing third in 1:51.80.
“No, the record wasn’t on the cards but I definitely wanted to win as I know that the Japanese (Seto and Yajima, finishing 2-3) arrived here tapered while I’m not in my best shape currently,” Le Clos told the FINA website.
And I wanted to send them a message that I could beat them even when they are tapered and in-form so for me this win was a big step for this reason.”
100m butterfly
Le Clos threw down the gauntlet in the 100m butterfly on the first night of the gala winning the race in a time of 49.22 seconds.
He finished the race ahead of France’s Mehdy Metella, who launched a strong challenge claiming the silver medal in 49.71.
Brazil’s Nicholas Santos rounded off the podium in 50.12 with South African Ryan Coetzee finishing in eighth place clocking 51.54.
50m butterfly
Chad le Clos had to be content with the silver medals in the 50mbuttefly and 200m freestyle. Photo by FINA
He four the butterfly golden treble courtesy of a world-record breaking effort by Santos, who posted an incredible time of 21.75 in the sprint event.
Le Clos had to be content with the silver posting a time of 22.11 with Japan’s Kosuke Matsui bagging bronze in 22.62 with Coetzee finishing fifth in 22.73.
200m freestyle
Le Clos completed the second cluster finishing second in the 200m freestyle in 1:42.78 with American Blake Pieroni claiming victory in a time of 1:42.00
Vlad Morozov of Russia, who consolidated his lead at the top of the standings finished third in 1:43.01.
50m freestyle
Commonwealth Games silver medallist Brad Tandy added to the tally winning the bronze medal in the splash-and-dash event on the first day of racing.
Morozov won the race in a time of 20.51 with Great Britain’s Ben Proud following in second place in 20.89 with Tandy winning his second medal of the series clocking 21.06 for bronze.
The World Cup will resume in November for the start of the third cluster in the Far East where it will be staged in Beijing on November 2 to 4, Tokyo on November 9 and 11 and Singapore on November 15 to 17.
