Russia’s Vladimir Morozov underlined his superiority in the men’s overall title race even as Australian Cate Campbell took another step towards taking the women’s trophy on the first day of the FINA World Cup at the Hamad Aquatic Centre.

The Russian made a strong statement by totally dominating the men’s 50M freestyle, completing a sweep of the event in the seven-stop FINA World Cup series.

He touched the wall in 21.83sec, ahead of Japan’s Kosuke Matsui (22.02) and Hungary’s Maxim Lobanovskij (22.04).

“That was a very close race, but it feels good to finally get it (seven wins) out of the way. Now I’m looking forward to my next races,” said Morozov, who will compete in 100M freestyle and 50M backstroke races next.

Campbell won the women’s 50M freestyle (24.11) by a narrow margin, pushing Swedish challenger Michelle Coleman (24.50) to second place. Campbell’s sister Bronte (24.74) won the bronze.

After the race, the two top swimmers could not stop praising each other.

“She pushed me to the limits and that’s the reason why I won. I owe her one for giving me such a tough fight,” said Campbell.

“I badly wanted to win. But she’s in such good form that I don’t feel bad losing to someone like her,” Coleman chimed in.

Meanwhile, Australia proved to be the most successful nation on the day, with Bradley Woodward claiming their second gold, in the men’s 200M backstroke (1:58.42).

He said the win in Doha would remain etched in his memory as it was his first triumph in a FINA World Cup.

“It felt good to win my first title in Doha. I hope better results are on the way. I aim to do well at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics,” he said, amidst loud cheers.

Japan’s Keita Sunama (1:58.83) and Belarus’s Mikita Tsmyh (2:00.92) finished in second and third places.

Doha’s sweetheart Katinka Hosszu sealed her 303rd FINA World Cup gold with an authoritative win in women’s 200M butterfly (2:08.60). In a final that had 50 per cent Hungarian representation, she surged ahead in the last 50M to complete a clean sweep of titles.

“We’re obviously a tough lot, and that explains why there were so many Hungarians in the final. I pushed hard in the final 50M and that proved to be the difference between me and the others,” she said.

Hungary added another gold to their tally when Eszter Bekesi won the women’s 200M breaststroke in 2:28.24. She finished ahead of Russia’s Vitalina Simonova (2:29.98) and Poland’s Weronika Hallmann (2:31.17).

There was a sweet victory for South African Chad le Clos in the men’s 100M butterfly, with his father Bert watching from the stands.

“Thanks dad for flying in last night to see me win in Doha. It’s always super special to return and win in front of the crowd here,” said Le Clos, who has attended the Doha race every year for the past eight editions.

He won in 51.70sec, ahead of Poland’s Jakub Majerski (52.11) and USA’s Michael Andrew (52.38).

Earlier, Austria’s Marlene Kahler became this year’s first winner in Doha by powering to the finish in women’s 400M freestyle. She touched home in 4min 10.51sec to defeat Australia’s Mikkayla Sheridan (4:11.63) and Slovenia’s Katja Fain (4:12.38).

Lithuania’s Danas Rapsys made a clean sweep of men’s 400M freestyle titles, winning the gold in 3:47.87sec.

The Netherlands’ Kira Toussant proved to be unstoppable in the women’s 50M backstroke as she stormed to gold in 27.80sec.

There was an Asian winner in the men’s 100M breaststroke, with Japan’s Yasuhiro Koseki taking the title in 59.11sec.