Sjostrom continues blazing form in Doha

Doha: Sweden’s  Sarah Sjostrom continued her blazing form in the FINA World Cup to win the 50m butterfly at Hamad Aquatic Centre in Doha on Friday.

Sjostrom, given a tough fight by Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands, set a new World Cup mark of 25.22sec. Kromowidjojo finished in 25.76 while Belgium’s Kimberly Buys (25.94) took the bronze.

“I am very happy that I could improve my time from Kazan. My only goal is to keep improving. I wanted to go under 25 today but it’s OK. I am very happy with the race. Good fans, great atmosphere,” Sjostrom said.

The 25-year-old earlier won the 200m freestyle in 1:56.32, finishing comfortably ahead of Femke Heemskerk (1:56.92). Katinka Hosszu (2:00.16) had to be content with third.

Hosszu, however, managed to win two gold — in the 400m Individual Medley and 100m backstroke and a silver, in the 4×400 mixed relay freestyle.

In 400m IM the Hungarian finished in 4:39.57 well ahead of compatriot Zsuzsanna Jakabos (4:44.87). In 100m backstroke, she clocked 59.63 to beat Kira Toussaint of the Netherlands (1:00.05).

Meanwhile in men’s 100m freestyle American Blake Pieroni clocked 48.11 to better Chad Le Clos’ 2015 mark of 48.16. 

Russian Vlad Morozov took silver (48.43), while Belgian Pieter Timmers claimed the bronze (49.04).