SA stars in fine form in Singapore
South Africa's swimmers were in fine form at the opening session of the Singapore leg of the shortcourse swimming World Cup with victories from Commonwealth Games gold medallist Cameron van der Burgh, Jessica Pengelly and Roland Schoeman.
In one of the most anticipated races of the evening, Schoeman beat world record holder German Steffen Deibler in the 50m butterfly sprint event with a time of 22:65 seconds.
The German came in second with a time of 22.81 seconds.
The two are also expected to face off in the 50m freestyle event on Sunday.
Van der Burgh, who had said it has been a long season for him, showed no signs of fatigue as he easily won the 50m breaststroke with compatriot Schoeman coming in second.
Pengelly won the women's 800m freestyle.
Brazil's Thiago Pereira, however, stole the show with three victories. The 24-year-old put on a power display as he swam to glory in the gruelling 400m individual medley, 200m butterfly and 100m individual medley events within two hours under humid conditions.
Pereira's super effort accounted for three out of the four races won by the South American nation as the medley specialist continued with his fine form, having also dominated the Beijing leg of the World Cup series earlier this week.
Jessica Hardy, who will be on the American team heading for the shortcourse world championships in Dubai in December, won the 100m breaststroke with Japan's Nanaka Tamura coming in a close second followed by Sweden's Jennie Johansson.
American Julia Smit also won in the 200m individual medley.
Swedish swim queen Therese Alshammar won the 100m butterfly but had to settle for second in the 50m freestyle behind Hinkelien Schreuder of the Netherlands.
Singapore is the third leg of FINA's swimming World Cup after Rio de Janeiro and Beijing. The series next heads to Tokyo.
RESULTS
Men
100 metres freestyle
1. Kyle Richardson (AUS) 47.40 seconds
2. Graeme Moore (RSA) 47.47
3. Lyndon Ferns (RSA) 47.68
50m breaststroke
1. Cameron van der Burgh (RSA) 26:21
2. Roland Schoeman (RSA) 26.69
3. Joao Gomes (BRA) 26.74
400m individual medley
1. Thiago Pereira (BRA) 4min 02:82sec
2. Brian Johns (CAN) 4:03:05
3. Toblas Oriwol (CAN) 4:08:96
100m backstroke
1. Augusto Guilherme Guido (BRA) 51.16
2. Peter Marshall (USA) 51.19
3. Hayden Stoekel (AUS) 51.40
200m butterfly
1. Thiago Pereira (BRA) 1:53:90
2. Travis Nederpelt (AUS) 1:55:00
3. Brian Johns (CAN) 1:55:04
400m freestyle
1. Dominik Meichtry (SUI) 3:44:32
2. Mikhail Polishchuk (RUS) 3:45:77
3. Lucas Kanieski (BRA) 3:46:15
200m breaststroke
1. Naoya Tomita (JPN) 2:05:43
2. Kazuki Otsuka (JPN) 2:06:09
3. Grigory Falko (RUS) 2:11:52
100m individual medley
1. Thiago Pereira (BRA) 52.73
2. Darian Townsend (RSA) 53:07
3. Sergey Fesikov (RUS) 53.52
50m butterfly
1. Roland Schoeman (RSA) 22:65
2. Steffen Deibler (GER) 22:81
3. Kohei Kawamoto (JPN) 23:13
Women
800m freestyle
1. Jessica Pengelly (RSA) 8:30.22
2. Yumi Kida (JPN) 8:32.34
3. Katheryn Meaklim (RSA) 8:36.32
200m freestyle
1. Zhang Jiaqi (CHN) 1:56.95
2. Melissa Ingram (NZL) 1:57.14
3. Tatiana Lemos-Barbosa (BRA) 1:57.99
100m breaststroke
1. Jessica Hardy (USA) 1:06:49
2. Nanaka Tamura (JPN) 1:06:80
3. Jennie Johansson (SWE) 1:07:01
100m butterfly
1. Therese Alshammar (SWE) 56.32
2. Tao Li (SIN) 56.78
3. Natalie Coughlin (USA) 58.09
50m backstroke
1. Rachel Goh (AUS) 26.64
2. Marieke Guehrer (AUS) 26.77
3. Hinkelien Schreuder (NED) 27.22
200m individual medley
1. Julia Smit (USA) 2:08:14
2. Kotuku Ngawati (AUS) 2:09:27
3. Zhang Jiaqi (CHN) 2:12:04
50m freestyle
1. Hinkelien Schreuder (NED) 23.98
2. Therese Alshammar (SWE) 24.31
3. Marieke Guehrer (AUS) 24.44
200m backstroke
1. Melissa Ingram (NZL) 2:03:99
2. Julia Smit (USA) 2:06:08
3. Jenny Mensing (GER) 2:07:64