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BEIJING, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- FINA female swimmer of the year Katinka Hosszu mastered the women's 100m medley on Friday and crowned her fifth title at the short course World Swimming Championships at Windsor, Canada.
As the world record holder in this distance, the Hungarian star got a comfortable gold in 57.24 seconds. It is her third consecutive victory in this event, after triumphing in 2012 in 58.49 and 2014 in 56.70, respectively.
Emily Seebohm of Australia, bronze medalist two years ago, upgraded to silver in 57.97, while Alia Atkinson of Jamaica took the bronze in 58.04.
In the men's 4x50m free relay, Russia touched for gold in 1:24.32. The Russian quartet were the fourth with 50m to go, but a turbo last leg from Vladimir Morozov helped the team to turn the tables. United States earned silver in 1:24.47 while Japan got the bronze in 1:24.51.
As the world record holder in men's 100m medley, Morozov seemed to be dragged down by the tiring effect of the relay minutes before, finishing merely sixth in this distance. The 17-year-old Michael Andrew of United States won the final in 51.84. Two Japanese Daiya Seto and Shinri Shioura completed the podium in 52.01 and 52.17.
In the men's 50m free final, Morozov lost the gold to 22-year-old Jesse Puts from the Netherlands. Puts touched for gold in 21.10. Morozov lagged 0.04 seconds behind to take the silver. The bronze went to Simonas Bilis of Lithuania, in a time of 21.23.
Danish star Jeanette Ottesen touched home in 24.92 to win the women's 50m fly final. It is her 11th medal in short course championships. The silver medal went to Kelsi Worrell of United States in 25.27 and the bronze went to Rikako Ikee of Japan in 25.32.
Leah Smith of United States was in control from the beginning of the final in the women's 400m free and claimed the title in 3:57.78. Her closest opponent during the race was Russia's Veronika Popova who got the silver in 3:58.90. The bronze went to Japan's Chihiro Igarashi in 3:59.41.
In the men's 50m backstroke, Junya Koga of Japan earned the gold in 22.85. Jeremy Stravius from France, got the silver in 22.99, while Pavel Sankovich from Belarus grabbed the bronze in 23.03.
In the eighth final of the day, the Russian team won the men's 4x200m free relay in a time of 6:52.10. Two-time defending champions United States had to content with the silver in 6:53.34. The bronze went to Japan in a time of 6:53.54.
