Thorpe, Piper Whack Italian Olympic Stars in Rome

ROME, June 9. AUSTRALIANS turned in three stunning victories on Day One of the Mare Nostrum tour meet in Rome, stunning a capacity crowd that had turned out to see Italy's Olympic champions in action. Ian Thorpe, Jim Piper and Clementine Stoney were the spoilers from Down Under.

Triple Olympic champion Thorpe relegated local heroes, Massimiliano Rossolini and Emiliano Brembila to maintain his three-year domination of the 400 meter freestyle in a time of 3:44.71 – to win by over two-and-half seconds. Rossolino, who won Olympic gold in Sydney in the 200m individual medley and the silver medal behind Thorpe in the 400m at the Games, was again no match for the Olympic champion, settling for silver again in 3:47.32, with Olympic fourth place finisher, Brembila third in 3:50.08.

Thorpe (49.85) later won bronze in the 100m freestyle behind Russian legend and 50-meter world record record holder Alex Popov (49.49) and Olympic butterfly champion Lars Frolander (49.78), with Australia’s Todd Pearson fourth in 50.13.

Australia's latest rising star, Jim Piper, claimed the prized scalp of Italy’s Olympic champion Domenico Fioravanti and five other locals, including Olympic bronze medalist Davide Rummolo (who finished fifth), to chalk up his second Tour victory in the 200 meter breaststroke.

Piper was just 0.02 secs outside his own Australian record, winning in 2:12.42 – a time, which would have won him silver behind Fioravanti in Sydney.

The 19-year-old from Ingleburn has had a stunning impact on international swimming, breaking the Australian record at the East Asian Games and then lowering it again to 2:12.40 in Canet just last week.

Only five swimmers, world record holder Mike Barrowman (USA), Fioravianti, Ed Moses (USA), Norbert Rosza (Hungry) and Nick Gillingham (Great Britain) have ever clocked under 2:12.00 with Gillingham’s 2:11.29 the Commonwealth record since 1992.

Stoney also won her second Tour gold medal, taking the 200m backstroke in 2:13.31, from Toshie Abe (Japan) 2:14.84 and Stanislava Komorova (Russia) 2:15.07.

The 18-year-old had earlier won the Canet meet and will now head back to the AIS in Canberra on Wednesday to prepare for the Telstra Grand Prix in Melbourne next weekend.

But the Aussies were far from the only story in the Eternal City. Costa Rica's Claudia Poll – the 1996 Olympic gold medalist and 2000 bronze medalist – showed her heels to a strong 200m freestyle field to win in 1:59.02, the world's fastest time this year. Russia's Nadezhda Chemezova, fourth at the Sydney Olympics, was second in 2:00.72.

America's triple Olympic gold medalist and world record-holder, Lenny Krayzelburg, shook off a shoulder injury that had kept him out of the Canet meet, to win the 100m back in 55.52. Austria's fast-improving Markus Rogan, 19 and a sophomore-to-be at Stanford, was a strong second in 55.90.

Ukraine's Denis Sylantiev took the 200 fly in a swift 1:56.00, moving him to third in the world this year behind Americans Michael Phelps and Tom Malchow.

Rosolino took the 200 IM – his gold medal event in Sydney – coming from behind to edge Canada's Brian Johns, 2:03.42 to 2:03.68.

South Africa's Sarah Poewe again downed the USA's Amanda Beard in the 100m breast, 1:08.81 to 1:09.61.

Ukraine's double Olympic champion Yana Klochkova once again demonstrated her absolute dominance in the 400 IM, breezing to a 4:41.10 clocking – almost nine seconds ahead of her nearest pursuer.

MARE NOSTRUM – XXXIV SEVEN HILLS INTERNATIONAL
Rome, Italy
June 9, 2001
50 meter pool

RESULTS

MEN'S EVENTS

100 METER FREESTYLE

1 POPOV Alexander 71 RUS RUSSIA 49.49
2 FROLANDER Lars 74 SWE SVEZIA 49.78
3 THORPE Ian 82 AUS AUSTRALIA 49.85
4 PEARSON Todd 77 AUS AUSTRALIA 50.13
5 NEETHLING Ryk 77 RSA SUD AFRICA 50.30
6 HARD Jere 78 FIN FINLANDIA 50.67
7 GALLO Mauro 79 C.S.CARABINIERI 50.78
8 KULIKOV Vladislav 71 RUS RUSSIA 51.35

400 METER FREESTYLE

1 THORPE Ian 82 AUS AUSTRALIA 3:44.71
2 ROSOLINO Massimiliano 78 C.CANOTTIERI NAPOLI 3:47.32
3 BREMBILLA Emiliano 78 C.S.CARABINIERI 3:50.08
4 CAPPELLAZZO Federico 80 R.N. TORIN0 3:54.14
5 FILIPETS Alexei 78 RUS RUSSIA 3:54.86
6 PELLICIARI Matteo 79 DDS SRL 3:55.10
7 RIGHI Andrea 79 C.S.CARABINIERI 3:57.05
8 SELLERI Nicola 80 SS PRESIDENT NUOTO CLUB 3:59.38

100 METER BACKSTROKE

1 KRAYZELBURG Lenny 75 USA 55.52
2 ROGAN Markus 82 AUT AUSTRIA 55.90
3 HASS Ray 77 AUS AUSTRALIA 57.08
4 MERISI Emanuele 72 SS METANOPOLI 57.30
5 AMINOV Vladislav 77 RUS RUSSIA 57.31
6 ANDERSEN Jakob 77 DEN DANIMARCA 57.48
7 PANKRATOV Denis 74 RUS RUSSIA 58.04
8 MAZZARI Mirko 75 C.S.CARABINIERI 58.18

200 METER BREASTSTROKE

1 PIPER Jim 81 AUS AUSTRALIA 2:12.42
2 FIORAVANTI Domenico 77 GRUPPO N FIAMME GIALLE 2:15.64
3 VANCINI Michele 81 A.S. DELFINO '93 2:16.12
4 ANGIOLLIERI Angelo 76 AMAT.N.SAVONA 2:17.13
5 RUMMOLO Davide 77 C.S.CARABINIERI 2:17.74
6 VINCENZETTI Olivier Joh 78 DDS SRL 2:17.93
7 FARABEGOLI Fabio 76 G.S. FIAMME ORO ROMA 2:18.59
8 URUBURU RODRIGUEZ Alfonso 79 ESP ANDALUCIA 2:19.44

200 METER BUTTERFLY

1 SYLANTYEV Denis 76 UKR UKRAINA 1:56.00
2 POLIAKOV Anatoli 80 RUS RUSSIA 1:59.82
3 BOGGIATTO Alessio 81 GRUPPO N FIAMME GIALLE 2:00.01
4 EROLI Massimiliano 76 C.S.CARABINIERI 2:00.21
5 GALENDA Christian 82 RIVIERA NUOTO DOLO 2:01.00
6 WINDISCH Michael 76 AUT AUSTRIA 2:01.05
7 SANO Hidemasa 84 JPN GIAPPONE 2:02.11
8 TAKEUCHI Toshifumi 83 JPN GIAPPONE 2:02.53

200 METER INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY

1 ROSOLINO Massimiliano 78 C.CANOTTIERI NAPOLI 2:03.42
2 JOHNS Brian 82 CAN CANADA 2:03.68
3 CASSOL Davide 80 C.C. ANIENE 2:04.52
4 CIANCARINI Simone 79 C.C. ANIENE 2:05.02
5 KENT Dean 78 NZL 2:05.36
6 WINDISCH Michael 76 AUT AUSTRIA 2:05.66
7 CARRASCO Jordi 75 ESP CATALUNYA 2:07.25
8 GALLINA Moreno 75 GRUPPO N FIAMME GIALLE 2:07.63

WOMEN'S EVENTS

800 METER FREESTYLE

1 OUFIMTSEVA Irina 85 RUS RUSSIA 8:37.76
2 LYBERTA Marianna GRE GRECIA 8:48.46
3 YOSHIMURA Shiho 87 JPN GIAPPONE 8:52.01
4 SUSINI Fabiana 81 TIRRENICA NUOTO 8:52.13
5 RICCIARDI Simona 79 A.S.AURELIA NUOTO 8:57.82
6 PASQUALI Melissa 72 FIORENTINA NUOTO 8:59.24
7 RUTILI Giulia 87 C.C. ANIENE 9:03.18
8 TAIT Karen 83 NZL 9:07.01

200 METER BACKSTROKE

1 STONEY Clementine 81 AUS AUSTRALIA 2:13.31
2 ABE Toshie 83 JPN GIAPPONE 2:14.84
3 KOMAROVA Stanislava 86 RUS RUSSIA 2:15.07
4 MURAKAWA Arisa 83 JPN GIAPPONE 2:16.43
5 IOPPI Roberta 85 VENETO BANCA MONTEBELLU 2:16.95
6 WITTSTOCK Charlene 78 RSA SUD AFRICA 2:18.29
7 BARSANTI Federica 78 SS METANOPOLI 2:18.51
8 BLIAMOU Aikaterini GRE GRECIA 2:20.13

100 METER BREASTSTROKE

1 POEWE Sarah 83 RSA SUD AFRICA 1:08.81
2 BEARD Amanda USA 1:09.61
3 LUO Nan 86 CHN CINA 1:10.69
4 FISCHER Elvira 78 AUT AUSTRIA 1:10.93
5 FARINA Sara 78 G.S. FIAMME ORO ROMA 1:11.37
6 BOGGIATTO Chiara 86 SISPORT FIAT 1:11.54
7 CRESCENTINI Roberta 75 A.S. LARUS NUOTO 1:11.87
8 PANARA Roberta 84 DDS SRL 1:13.08

100 METER BUTTERFLY

1 VINOGRADOVA Ekaterina 82 RUS RUSSIA 1:00.33
2 BESPALOVA Irina 81 RUS RUSSIA 1:00.55
3 SKOU Sophia 75 DEN DANIMARCA 1:00.84
4 LACROIX Audrey 83 CAN CANADA 1:00.86
5 WATANABE Kozue 86 JPN GIAPPONE 1:00.95
6 PEDEMONTE Silvia 81 DDS SRL 1:02.57
7 STRIANI Luisa 78 SS METANOPOLI 1:03.17
8 KAVARNOU Eirini GRE GRECIA 1:03.53

400 METER INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY

1 KLOCHKOVA Yana 82 UKR UKRAINA 4:41.10
2 BISCIA Federica 80 CUNEO NUOTO 4:49.77
3 CAVALLINO Paola 77 A.S.MULTEDO 1930 4:53.86
4 CHRASTOVA Pavla 79 CZE REP.CECA 4:58.68
5 NEGRINI Chiara 79 SS METANOPOLI 4:59.46
6 MASSARI Veronica 78 DDS SRL 5:01.01
7 BURGOYNE Carrie 81 CAN CANADA 5:02.15

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