Rikke Moller Pedersen Puts World Record on Notice at Eindhoven Cup

EINDHOVEN, The Netherlands, April 13. THE final night of action at the Eindhoven Cup featured plenty of fireworks with a bevy of top-five ranked times going up on the scoreboard, including a world-record attempt.

Rikke Moller Pedersen shot to the top of the world rankings with a sizzling 2:19.61 in the women’s 200-meter breaststroke. That’s not far off her world record of 2:19.11 from the 2013 World Championships, which has been her season-long target this year. She’s far-and-away the best in the world right now, considering Kanako Watanabe holds the second spot in the rankings with a 2:21.09.

There’s a high likelihood that she’ll lower that record in the future when she has some competition alongside of her. Tonight, she was pretty lonely considering Lisa Zaiser placed second in 2:28.67, a full nine seconds behind Pedersen. Jessica Eriksson rounded out the top three in 2:31.08.

Mie Nielsen raced her way to second in the SwimVortex world rankings with a 59.36 to win the women’s 100-meter backstroke. That swim helped her leapfrog Georgia Davies (59.78) into second behind Emily Seebohm’s 58.92 from Aussie Nationals. Nielsen time also stands as a Danish record, beating her own 59.69 from the 2012 Danish Open in Bronshoj. Kira Toussaint placed second in 1:01.50, while Maaike de Waard earned third in 1:01.83.

Inge Dekker nearly moved to the top of the world rankings in the women’s 50-meter fly with a 25.55 for the win, but Sarah Sjostrom had already trumped her with a sizzling 25.52 this morning during prelims before scratching semis. That’s another top-ranked time for Sjostrom this week in Eindhoven. Aliaksandra Herasimenia placed second tonight in 26.62 with Elinore de Jong taking third in 26.81.

Having scratched the 50 fly to focus on the 100 free, Sarah Sjostrom just missed another top-ranked swim this weekend as she won in 52.73. That’s just off Cate Campbell’s 52.68 from the Aussie Nationals in Brisbane. Femke Heemskerk touched second in 53.64, while Michelle Coleman claimed third in 53.66.

Erik Persson crushed the men’s 200-meter breaststroke field with a 2:11.54 for the win. Christian Vom Lehn placed second in 2:13.03 with Sebas van Lith taking third in 2:13.26. Bastiaan Lijesen took home the men’s 100-meter backstroke title in 54.78 with Mattias Carlsson placing second in 55.47. Laurent Bams snared third in 56.21.

Andriy Govorov clinched the men’s 50-meter freestyle title in 22.17 with Alan Madeira da Vitoria taking second in 22.37. Sergey Fesikov wound up third in the splash-and-dash with a 22.49. Velimir Stjepanovic topped the men’s 400-meter free in 3:48.25, while Ferry Weertman took second in 3:48.94. Sebastiaan Verschuren wrapped up the podium with a third-place 3:49.80.

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