Dubai: World-class swimming returns to Dubai next month as an impressive line-up of world and Olympic champions head to the emirate for the final round of the FINA/airweave Swimming World Cup on November 6 and 7 at the Hamdan Sports Complex.
Organisers are expecting another thrilling event, with crowd favourites and overall winners of the 2014 Swimming World Cup, Chad Le Clos of South Africa and Hungarian superstar Katinka Hosszu, heading the list of stars competing for World Cup glory. For the first time, Dubai will host the final deciding leg of the eight-leg competition, which will see the overall male and female winners take home the $100,000 (Dh367,000) prize money.
With Olympic qualification also on the line, and some scores to settle after the recent World Championships, the event promises to be fiercely contested.
The series is held over eight legs in three clusters. Cluster one was in Moscow and Paris in August, cluster two in Hong Kong, Beijing and Singapore in September and October, and cluster three will be in Tokyo and Doha in October and November, with the final event in Dubai.
With three legs completed so far, the competition is proving as tough as expected.
Golden boy Le Clos is one of the most popular swimmers in the world and is in great form, having defended his 100 metres butterfly world championship title in Kazan, Russia, last month.
He won the overall Swimming World Cup in 2011, 2013 and 2014 and could make it three in a row if he can overtake his countryman Cameron van der Burgh, who is currently in first place in the rankings after taking the 50 and 100 metres breaststroke double in the first three legs.
Hosszu is one of the most exciting and toughest competitors in swimming, earning her moniker “Iron Lady” with some top performances and winning consecutive World Cups for the past three years.
Hosszu dominated the competition in 2014, taking 51 of the total 119 gold medals on offer and breaking five world records. She also defended both her 200 and 400 metres individual medley World Championship crowns in Kazan, and is on target to take the overall World Cup title again, having just won eight golds in the Hong Kong leg to take her lead to a massive 123 points with five legs to go.
Also competing in Dubai is Alia Atkinson, who became the first Jamaican to win a medal at the long course World Championships when she picked up bronze in the 100 metres in Kazan. She stamped her authority on the breaststroke events in the 2014 World Cup, winning the 50 metres five times, the 100 six times and the 200 once, to finish third overall in the final standings behind Hosszu and Inge Dekker of the Netherlands.
As it is an Olympic qualification event this year, for the first time the Swimming World Cup is being contested in a 50-metre pool, and sees both men and women vying for prize money in each of the 32 events. The event will see teams from more than 30 countries competing for honours.
For more information see the Facebook page: FINA/airweave Swimming World Cup Dubai UAE.
