South African phenom Chad le Clos may have kept the overall lead, but Australian swimmers kept on proving their mettle in the Tokyo leg of the FINA Swimming World Cup held over on Nov 9 to 10.

Le Clos swept the men's butterfly events, but his lead was eroded even further by Vladimir Morozov and Roland Schoeman who each had strong performances in their respective events. Japanese swimmer Kosuke Hagino also won three events in the short-course tournament.

However, the Australians, led by Thomas Fraser-Holmes, came out strong, with Fraser-Holmes winning two events and the mixed teams delivering first-place finishes in the 4x50 freestyle relay and the 4x50 medley relay. Fraser-Holmes won the 400 metre freestyle with a time of 3:38.39 and the 200 metre freestyle with 1:42.56. Christian Spreger added a gold medal in the 100 metre breaststroke, clocking in at 57.14 seconds.

The Australians have won two straight 4x50 medley relays, dating back to Singapore, and in Tokyo, they set a new world record of 1:37.84, beating the record they set three days prior to touching down in Japan.

Robert Hurley, currently third on the leaderboard, added a silver in the men's 50 metre backstroke, setting a new Commonwealth record. Hurley finished the course in 49.92 seconds, 0.05 second behind American Eugene Godsoe.

On the women's side, Cate Campbell and Alicia Coutts also came up with impressive individual performances, with Campbell winning the 50 and 100 metre freestyle and Coutts setting a World Cup record of 55.30 seconds in the 100 metre butterfly.

Meanwhile, Hungarian champion swimmer Katinka Hosszu kept her streak alive, winning five events and pulling ahead of Mireia Belmonte in the overall standings.

The 2013 FINA World Cup season reaches its conclusion on Nov 13-14 in Beijing, and the Australians are expected to battle it out for a respectable finish.