The fifth leg of the 2017 Fina/airweave Swimming World Cup wrapped up in Doha, Qatar, on Thursday, with two-time Olympian Chad le Clos of South Africa and Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom keeping their provisional lead in the overall ranking of the competition.

South African champion Le Clos picked up four gold medals, in the 50m, 100m and 200-metre fly, and the 200m free, but Sjostrom went one better with victories in the 50m, 100m and 200m free, and also in the 50m and 100m fly.

Sjostrom has now accumulated 446 points, while Le Clos leads the men’s chart with 312 points.

The Doha rendezvous also marked the conclusion of the second cluster of the competition – which included the Hong Kong leg on 30 Sep-1 Oct.

For this particular event, Le Clos was also the best, with 153 points, while Katinka Hosszu (HUN, second overall), was better than Sjostrom (183 points for the Magyar great, 180 for the Swedish ace).

In Doha, Hosszu, winner of the World Cup since 2012, was in great shape, also winning five gold medals – 100m and 200m back, 100m, 200m and 400m IM.

Day Two action

In the first group of seven finals, Le Clos continued his winning saga.

After getting gold on day one in the 50m and 200m fly, the South African won two more duels with Tom Shields (US), this time in the 100m fly and 200m free. In the butterfly, Le Clos touched in 50.17, ensuring his fourth win of the year in this event (his best performance being a 49.09 effort from Eindhoven).

In the freestyle race, the provisional leader of the overall ranking clocked 1:44.40 for the gold, getting his third success of the season, after Moscow and Hong Kong. The fastest so far in this event is Dominik Kozma (HUN), who had won in Berlin in a time of 1:41.03.

After the 50m breast victory, Le Clos’ countryman Cameron van der Burgh was once more imperial in the 100m breaststroke, getting the best performance of the season: 56.11. It’s the third win of the series for the South African, who left Kirill Prigoda (RUS, winner in Berlin) with the silver in Doha.

Germany’s Christian Diener enjoyed his third gold in the Qatari capital, completing with success all the backstroke events (50m, 100m and 200m). In the longer distance, he touched the wall in 1:50.96. Le Clos and Radoslaw Kawecki (POL, winner in Moscow and Berlin) tied for silver in 1:51.02.

Top Three Overall Ranking (after leg five in Doha)

MEN

1 Chad Le Clos (SA), 312 points
2 Kirill Prigoda (RUS), 201 pts
3 Vladimir Morozov (RUS), 189 pts

WOMEN
1 Sarah Sjostrom (SWE), 446 points
2 Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 359 pts
3 Ranomi Kromowidjojo (NED), 182 pts

Top Three Cluster 2 (final)
MEN

1 Chad Le Clos (SA), 153 points
2 Tom Shields (US), 114 pts
3 Kirill Prigoda (RUS), 108 pts

WOMEN
1 Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 183 points
2 Sarah Sjostrom (SWE), 180 pts
3 Emily Seebohm (AUS), 96 pts