Brown, Prinsloo shine in Monaco

Brown won his second gold medal of the two-day meet when he won the men’s 200 metre freestyle in a time of one minute, 47.88 seconds (1:47.88) on Sunday.

Hungary’s Dominik Kozma finished behind Brown in 1:48.54 with Japan’s Daiya Seto bagging the bronze medal with 1:48.71.

On the first day of the meet on Saturday, Brown also claimed the men’s 400m freestyle race clocking 3:49.57.

Pal Joensen of the Faroe Islands had to settle with second place in 3:50.41, while David Brandl of Austria finished third in 3:51.20.

Prinsloo continued her blistering run in the pool when she first claimed a fantastic victory over Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszu in record time in the women’s 200m freestyle on Saturday.

She finished the race in a time of 1:57.17 to improve on the record she set in January with Hosszu taking second place in 1:57.30, and France’s Camille Muffat finishing third with 1:57.31.

On Sunday it was Hosszu’s turn to take pole position when she set a new Hungarian record in the 400m freestyle in a time of 4:05.51.

Prinsloo touched third in a time of 4:08.50 while French swimmer and Olympian Camille Muffat finished ahead of her clocking 4:07.11.

Olympic gold medalist Chad le Clos had an indifferent meet where he suffered a shock defeat in the 200m butterfly, his premier event in which he is the world and Olympic champion at the hands of Japan’s Daiya Seto.

Seto stopped the clock on 1:54.70 with Le Clos taking the silver medal in a time of 1:57.13. In the men’s 200m Individual Medley Le Clos just missed the podium as he came in fourth position.

Le Clos finished the final day empty handed when he missed out on a podium position in the men’s 400m Individual Medley with a fourth-place finish in a time of 4:21.51.

The South African swimming team bagged a total of five medals three gold, one silver, one bronze in the first leg of the Mare Nostrum circuit in Monaco.

The second leg, over two days, is in Canet and starts on Wednesday.

– Sapa