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No Hiatus In Hosszu's Marathon

Dec 21, 2012  - Craig Lord

World Cup queen Katinka Hosszu, almost 35km of racing in her 2012 treasury alongside a prize pot that will top $200,000 by the year end, was the star of the the short-course Salnikov Cup in St Petersburg, Russia, today with four golds and a silver. 

First up, she took the 200m free in 1:55.14, Spain's world champion 400m freestyler Melanie Costa on 1:55.41, Britain's world champion 400IMer Hannah Miley on 1:56.31. Next up, Hosszu clocked 56.73 to win the 100m butterfly ahead of Aliaksandra Herasimenia (BLR),57.05, and Veronika Popova (RUS), 57.84.

A world-class act over 400m - and even 800m distances - Hosszu then turned her attention to the backstroke dash crew - and beat them at their own game, Australia's Rachel Goh outreached 27.39 - a national record that had stood to Nikolett Szepesi since 2008 - to 27.44 Nadezhda Vinyukova (RUS) third in 27.66. 

Hosszu missed the 50m free podium before returning to the fray for the 800m free: Miley, a couple of seconds outside her effort at world s/c championships last week in Istanbul, clocked 8:18.51, Hosszu second in 8:32.15, Elena Sokolova (RUS) third in 8:32.27. 

The Hungarian was not yet done: gold in the 200m backstroke was hers in 2:06.26 Polina Lapshina (RUS) on 2:07.42 and Maria Gromova (RUS)n on 2:08.59.

Hosszu's teammate Laszlo Cseh added to Hungarian success with a 4:07.57 win over Maxym Shemberyev (UKR), on 4:08.14, and Alexander Tikhonov (RUS), on 4:09.19. 

Cseh then took silver in the 200m butterfly behind Russian Nikolay Skvortsov 1:51.96 to 1:53.28, the hosts also third, Andrey Tambovskiy on 1:56.64. Cseh was back in later for a 53.91 bronze in the 100m medley behind George Bovell (TRI), on 51.69, and Dmitry Zhilin (RUS), on 53.58. 

The home crowd enjoyed a glimpse of world champion Vladimir Morozov, on 46.38 in the 100m free a week after setting the world textile best in 45.52, national teammates Nikita Lobintsev and Evgeny Lagunov closets to him, on 47.22 and 47.25 respectively.

Other winners included Sally Foster (AUS), 1:06.24 to 1:06.48 over Russian Valentina Artemyeva in the 100m breaststroke; world 1500m free champion in Istanbul last Sunday, Mads Glaesner (DEN) on 3:42.29 in the 400m free; Viatcheslav Sinkevich (RUS), on 58.28 in the 100m breaststroke ahead of Igor Borysik (UKR), 58.41, and teammate Andriy Kovalenko, 58.49; Stanislav Donets (RUS) on 50.52 in the 100m backstroke ahead of Aussies Robert Hurley, world 50m champion last week, on 50.77, and Ashley Delaney, 51.03; and Roland Schoeman (RSA), on 22.82 in the 'fly dash.

Results in full