FINA World Cup, Stockholm: Day One Finals

THE first day of finals is underway at the FINA World Cup stop in Stockholm, Sweden. 

Women's 800 free 
Hungary's Evelyn Verraszto picked up the first cash prize of the weekend with an 8:20.78 to win the distance freestyle event for the day. That gave her $1,500 to start off the weekend. Great Britain's Eleanor Faulkner finished in second with an 8:21.19 for $1,000, while Sweden's Gabriella Fagundez took third in 8:37.69 for a quick $500. 

Finland's Laura Lajunen (8:45.01), Rebecca Ekelund (8:49.85), Sweden's Elsa Ericsson (8:51.53), Sweden's Madelene Andersson (8:57.29) and Josefine Hippi (9:00.62) rounded out the final heat of the distance freestyle event.

Men's 100 free
Sweden's Stefan Nystrand captured the first men's check of the evening with a $1,500-winning 47.08 in the sprint event. That's the second fastest time in the early short course season with James Magnussen owning the top swim with a 46.82 from July. Canada's Brent Hayden cleared $1,000 with a second-place 47.27, while Australia's Matthew Abood took home $500 with a 48.16.

Sweden's Petter Stymne (48.35), Australia's Eamon Sullivan (48.36), Portugal's Tiago Venancio (48.77), Sweden's Lars Frolander (48.93) and China's Shi Yang (49.31) also competed in the finale.

Women's 200 free
Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom and Australia's Angie Bainbridge pushed each other to new heights as Sjostrom (1:52.92) and Bainbridge (1:53.03) posted the top two swims in the early season thus far. Kylie Palmer had owned the previous top time with a 1:55.07 from July. Sjostrom became just the eighth member of the sub-1:53 club by downing Josefin Lillhage's Swedish record of 1:53.55, while Bainbridge nearly clipped Palmer's Australian record of 1:52.96 from Worlds last year. Germany's Daniela Schreiber rounded out the podium with a $500 1:55.44.

Hungary's Zsuzsanna Jakabos (1:56.34), Great Britain's Rebecca Turner (1:57.13), Sweden's Ida Marko Varga (1:57.23), Sweden's Petra Granlund (1:57.51) and Sweden's Gabriella Fagundez (1:57.96) finished fourth through eighth.

Men's 50 breast
New Zealand's Glenn Snyders touched out Norway's Alexander Dale Oen by nearly the slimmest of margins, 27.04 to 27.06. Meanwhile, Norway's Aleksander Hetland placed third with a $500 27.13. Germany's Marco Koch just missed out on adding to his $5,000 from Dubai with a fourth-place 27.47.

Sweden's Jakob Dorch (27.56), Niklas Tour (27.89), Korea's Choi Kyuwoong (28.11) and Canada's Andrew Poznikoff (28.35) also swam in the finale.

Women's 100 breast
Sweden's Jennie Johansson gave the hometown crowd a second straight female swim to cheer for with a 1:05.27 to capture the $1,500 check. That swim pushed her to third in the early season standings, while China's Sun Ye placed second tonight in 1:05.65. Korea's Kim Hye Jin completed the podium with a $500 1:06.18.

Japan's Kanako Watanabe (1:06.44), Australia's Sally Foster (1:06.52), Sweden's Joline Hostman (1:06.88), Korea's Darae Jeong (1:07.92) and Norway's Katharina Stiberg (1:08.13) made up the rest of the championship field.

Men's 400 IM
Sporting a pink cap, South Africa's Chad Le Clos became the first person to clear $10,000 during the World Cup circuit this year. With his 4:03.10, he pocketed another $1,500 check – his seventh so far, to move to $10,500 for the series. That swim smashed his previous top time in the early season rankings of 4:04.58 from Dubai. Japan's Daiya Seto claimed $1,000 with a second-place 4:03.33 for second in the rankings, while Hungary's David Verraszto posted a $500 4:03.45 for third in the rankings.

Japan's Yuya Horihata (4:09.83), Germany's Marco Koch (4:18.07), Great Britain's Matthew Johnson (4:18.34) and Sweden's Erik Persson (4:23.81) made up the final heat, while Japan's Hidemasa Sano drew a disqualification.

Women's 100 fly
A previous overall World Cup winner, Sweden's Therese Alshammar hammered the 100 fly with a top time of 55.99. That swim came up just half-a-second shy of her all-time third-ranked Swedish record of 55.53. China's Lu Ying finished second in 56.44, giving Liu Zige's Chinese record of 56.13 a run in the process. Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom cashed her second check of the evening with a $500 56.95 to move her overall winnings to $2,000.

Norway's Ingvild Snildal (58.31), Sweden's Martina Granstrom (58.43), Sweden's Petra Granlund (58.90), China's Gong Jie (59.02) and Germany's Theresa Michalak (59.23) also competed for the title

sumber:swimming world magazine