European Short Course Champs Off to Sizzling Start

TRIESTE, Italy, December 8. A pair of world records and a European standard were disposed of on Thursday when the European Short Course Championships kicked off in Trieste, Italy. Austria’s Markus Rogan (200 backstroke) and Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh (200 individual medley) set new world records while Russia’s Yuri Prilukov set a new European standard in the 400 freestyle.

Rogan, who won a silver medal in the 200 backstroke at the Athens Olympics, won his prime event in 1:50.43, taking nine hundredths off the former world record of 1:50.52, held by the United States’ Aaron Peirsol. Rogan was in second place at the 100-meter mark, but came on strong down the stretch to dispatch Russia’s Arkady Vyatchanin (1:50.77).

As for Cseh, he rewrote the global standard in the 200 I.M. with a time of 1:53.46, well under the old record of 1:53.93, set in 2004 by George Bovell at the NCAA Championships. Cseh, a triple-event medalist at the World Championships in Montreal last summer, blasted the competition, as Lithuania’s Vytautas Janusaitis was second in 1:55.52. Third place went to Italy’s Alessio Boggiatto (1:56.11).

En route to gold in the 400 free, Prilukov edged Poland’s Pawel Korzeniowski at the wall. Prilukov, who was second in the 400 free at the World Champs, clocked in at 3:37.81, under the former European record of Italy’s Massi Rosolino (3:39.59). Korzeniowski was the silver medalist in 3:38.20 while Germany’s Paul Biedermann secured bronze in 3:39.88. Rosolino took fourth in 3:40.42.

The former world-record holder in the short-course version of the 50 freestyle, Great Britain’s Mark Foster toppled the current record holder, France’s Fred Bousquet. Foster blitzed a time of 21.27, plenty faster than the 21.47 of Bousquet. The Netherlands’ Johan Kenkhuis was third in 21.51 while Germany’s Steffen Deibler was fourth in 21.56.

On the female side, Germany’s Janne Schaefer was first in the 50 breaststroke in 30.62, slightly quicker than the 30.71 of Poland’s Beata Kaminska. As for the 200 fly, gold went to Hungary’s Beatrix Boulsevicz in 2:06.62. That time was easily swifter than the 2:07.12 of Denmark’s Mette Jacobsen and the 2:07.52 of France’s Aurore Mongel. Meanwhile, Poland went one-two in the 200 I.M. behind Katarzyna Baranowska (2:10.25) and Aleksandra Urbanczyk (2:11.11).

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