Let the pool duels begin as Le Clos eyes supremacy
The swimming world championship starts on Sunday in Budapest with China, who topped the medal table in 2015, determined to maintain its dominance.
A young United States team led by Katie Ledecky will seek to dislodge the Chinese as the competition offers several mouthwatering duels in the pool.
Here are five big names to look out for over the coming days.
Chad le Clos (South Africa)
With archrival Michael Phelps now back in retirement, Le Clos (25) has a point to prove and is expected to be a force in the 100m and 200m butterfly in Budapest, as well as in the 200m freestyle.
Le Clos failed to defend his 2012 Olympic title when he finished fourth in the 200m fly final at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
He also finished joint second — alongside Phelps and Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh — in the 100m fly after Singapore’s Joseph Schooling pulled off a shock win.
Le Clos will defend his 100m world title and will battle Cseh, who beat him in the 200m fly at the 2015 world champs in Kazan.
Sun Yang (China)
The pressure will be on the 25-yearold Chinese giant when he again locks horns with Australia’s Mack Horton in the men’s 400m freestyle on Sunday, dubbed the “War in the Water II”.
Horton (21) dethroned Sun over 400m at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, having called his rival a “drug cheat”, a reference to Sun’s three-month doping ban for taking a banned stimulant that the 400m and 800m world champion said was for a heart complaint.
Sun is desperate to re-establish his authority in Budapest and has swum the fastest time over 400m this year.
Katie Ledecky (United States)
With Michael Phelps, Missy Franklin and Ryan Lochte missing in Budapest, five-time Olympic champion Ledecky will lead the US charge, having bagged four gold medals at the Rio Olympics.
Still only 20, Ledecky could scoop six golds in Budapest in the 200m, 400m — where she could win her first gold on Sunday night — 800m and 1 500m freestyles, plus the 4 x 100m and 4 x 200m freestyle relays.
With Franklin absent after surgery, Ledecky could break her US teammate’s record of six gold medals set at the 2013 world championships.
Adam Peaty (Great Britain)
The 22-year-old has won every 100m breaststroke race he has entered since the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
This gold-medal machine holds the world records over both 50m and 100m, the latter of which he set in winning the 2016 Olympic final in Rio, and is threatening to go even faster in Budapest.
Peaty will again go up against South Africa’s Cameron van der Burgh when he defends his 50m and 100m titles.
Katinka Hosszu (Hungary)
Hungary’s “Iron Lady” will be on home turf in Budapest’s Duna Arena on the banks of the Danube.
She has an iron grip on the 200m and 400m individual medley titles — the Olympic and world champion holds the record in both events.
Hosszu has entered six individual events, including the 100m backstroke in which she is the Olympic champion, an exhausting schedule that will test her nickname, especially if she is added to Hungary’s relay squads. — AFP