French Short Course Nationals: Alain Bernard’s World Record Closes Swift Meet

ANGERS, France, December 7. ALAIN Bernard provided the third world record of the French Short Course National Championships to close down the show that also featured a drastic rewriting of the French national record books.

Bernard clocked a blistering time of 45.69, going out in 21.71 and coming back in 23.98. That performance crushed the 45.83 set by Sweden's Stefan Nystrand during the 2007 World Cup stop in Berlin. Nystrand went out in 22.09 and came back in 23.74. Amaury Leveaux took second in 46.26, while Fabien Gilot took third in 46.33.

Fresh off a world record in the 200 free, Coralie Balmy claimed the women's 400 free in a meet-record time of 3:56.35. Camille Muffat placed second in 3:59.80.

Clement Lefert followed with a winning time of 3:43.59 in the men's 400 free, with Nicolas Rostoucher (3:44.62) and Sebastien Rouault (3:44.68) taking second and third.

In the women's 200 fly, Aurore Mongel downed her national record twice. First, she hit the wall in 2:06.27 during prelims to break her 2:07.52 set in 2005. She then dropped the mark to 2:04.97 during finals.

Christophe Lebon ripped off a meet-record time of 1:52.36 in the men's 200 fly. That performance cleared the 1:53.40 set by Franck Esposito in 2005.

Laure Manaudou clipped her meet record in the women's 50 back with a 27.30. That time cleared the 27.46 she set during prelims, which in turn broke Manaudou's 27.61 meet record set in 2006.

Another twice-downed national record happened in the men's 50 back. Camille Lacourt clocked a time of 23.95 during prelims to erase the 24.33 set by Benjamin Stasiulis last year. Lacourt then won the title with a time of 23.60 to lower the mark even further.

Fanny Babou then pocketed the women's 50 breast title with a time of 31.80, touching out Alena Alekseeva (31.86) for the win.

In an exciting finish, Great Britain's James Gibson touched out Hugues Duboscq, 27.04 to 27.09, in the men's 50 breast. Duboscq broke the preliminary national record of 27.18 set by Giacomo Perez Dortona, which in turn cleared Duboscq's former record of 27.19 set in 2006. Perez Dortona took third in 27.22.

In the women's 200 IM, Muffat whacked a second from her national record with a time of 2:07.94. That readout smashed the 2:08.95 Muffat set back in 2007.

Christophe Soulier earned the men's 200 IM title with a time of 1:59.93, although it was slower than B final winner Robert Margalis of the U.S. (1:59.52).

Alena Popchanka won a battle with Gabrielle Fagundez of Sweden, 53.68 to 53.89, in the women's 100 free.

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