Euro Short Course Champs: Dutch Treat at Day Two Prelims

DUBLIN, Ireland, December 12. THE Euro Short Course Championships went Dutch during second day prelims this morning in Dublin, with swimmers from the Netherlands occupying the top spot in three of the seven events contested.

It was no surprise when Pieter van den Hoogenband qualified first in the 100m free in 47.60 as the only other swimmer under 48 seconds was Germany's Stefan Herbst (47.99).

It was a surprise, however, when Hinkelien Schreuder grabbed the top spot in prelims of the 50 fly (26.77), with teammate Chantal Groot third (26.82). It will be tough for Schreuder to hang on to that position, hgowever. World record-holder Anna Karin Kammerling cruised in qualifying fourth (26.87), the always tough Martina Moravcova was second (26.80), Sweden's Johanna Sjoberg was sixth (26.97) and Israel's Vered Borochovski was 11th.

The coup de grace, however, came when a Dutch foursome lowered the world best in the 4×50 meter freestyle relay in 1:38.13 — an average of 24.53/swimmer. What makes it even more impressive is that Holland's best female swimmer — Inge De Bruijn — is not even competing here.

In other prelims:
* Germany's Thomas Rupprath and Toni Helbig qualified first and second in the 50 back.

* Hungary's Laszlo Cseh, who finished right behind Michael Phelps at lasat summer's World Championships, took the top position (4:07.34) in the 400 IM in a very strong field that includes Britain's Robin Francis, Hungary's Tamas Kerekjarto and Italy's Alessio Boggiatto and Massi Rosolino.

* Hanna Shcherba of Belarus qualified first in the 100 IM (1:01.74) with Slovenia's Alenka Kejzar second. Last night Kejzar won the 200 IM with Shcherba second.

* Germany's Anne Poleska will occupy the middle lane in the 200 m breaststroke final tonight off her 2:22.13 prelim time, but she can expect a tussle from defending champion Mirna Jukic of Austria, second this morning in 2:23.09.

RESULTS

Prelims
DAY TWO: December 12, 2003

MEN

50 metres backstroke
Thomas Rupprath (Germany) 23.89
Toni Helbig (Germany) 24.08
Ante Maskovic (Croatia) 24.61
Darius Grigalionis (Lithuania) 24.61
Gregor Tait (Britain) 24.67
Vyacheslav Shyrshov (Ukraine) 24.79
Arkady Vyatchanin (Russia) 24.80
Orn Arnarson (Iceland) 24.81

Tero Raty (Finland) 24.89
Peter Mankoc (Slovenia) 24.89
Yevgeny Aleshin (Russia) 24.99
Jakob Andersen (Denmark) 24.99
Flori Lang (Switzerland) 25.04
Orel Oral (Turkey) 25.07
Aristeidis Grigoriadis (Greece) 25.19
Blaz Medvesek (Slovenia) 25.21

400 metres individual medley
Laszlo Cseh (Hungary) 4:07.34
Robin Francis (Britain) 4:08.90
Alessio Boggiatto (Italy) 4:10.17
Alexei Kovrigin (Russia) 4:11.03
Tamas Kerekjarto (Hungary) 4:11.09
Igor Berezutskiy (Russia) 4:11.76
Lukasz Wojt (Poland) 4:12.60
Massimiliano Rosolino (Italy) 4:12.61

100 metres freestyle
Pieter van den Hoogenband (Netherlands) 47.60
Stefan Herbst (Germany) 47.99
Filippo Magnini (Italy) 48.12
Denis Pimankov (Russia) 48.15
Peter Mankoc (Slovenia) 48.18
Matthew Kidd (Britain) 48.24
Johan Kenkhuis (Netherlands) 48.26
Andrei Kapralov (Russia) 48.28

Christian Galenda (Italy) 48.29
Carsten Dehmlow (Germany) 48.40
Yuri Yegoshin (Ukraine) 48.41
Bartosz Kizierowski (Poland) 48.50
Saulius Binevicius (Lithuania) 48.51
Martin Verner (Czech Republic) 48.72
Paulius Viktoravicius (Lithuania) 48.87
Attila Zubor (Hungary) 48.90

WOMEN

50 metres butterfly
Hinkelien Schreuder (Netherlands) 26.77
Martina Moravcova (Slovakia) 26.80
Chantal Groot (Netherlands) 26.82
Anna Karin Kammerling (Sweden) 26.87
Fabienne Nadarajah (Austria) 26.90
Johanna Sjoberg (Sweden) 26.97
Jeanette Ottesen (Denmark) 27.04
Aleksandra Urbanczyk (Poland) 27.04

Tine Bossuyt (Belgium) 27.07
Triin Aljand (Estonia) 27.08
Vered Borochovski (Israel) 27.19
Judith Draxler (Austria) 27.26
Malia Metella (France) 27.29
Rosalind Brett (Britain) 27.33
Janine Pietsch (Germany) 27.33
Fabienne Dufour (Belgium) 27.43

100 metres individual medley
Hanna Shcherba (Belarus) 1:01.74
Alenka Kejzar (Slovenia) 1:02.02
Alison Sheppard (Britain) 1:02.08
Sara Parise (Italy) 1:02.23
Hanna Erikson (Sweden) 1:02.34
Svetlana Karpeeva (Russia) 1:03.12
Jane Trepp (Estonia) 1:03.19
Julie Hjort-Hansen (Denmark) 1:03.30

Tatiana Rouba (Spain) 1:03.42
Petra Klosova (Czech Republic) 1:03.43
Fabienne Dufour (Belgium) 1:03.48
Andrea Simakova (Czech Republic) 1:03.52
Yana Tolkatcheva (Russia) 1:03.53
Elisabeth Jarland (Norway) 1:03.86
Sophie de Ronchi (France) 1:03.95
Jane Kaljonen (Finland) 1:03.98

200 metres breaststroke
Anne Poleska (Germany) 2:22.13
Mirna Jukic (Austria) 2:23.09
Simone Weiler (Germany) 2:23.66
Kirsty Balfour (Britain) 2:24.92
Natalia Hissamutdinova (Estonia) 2:26.38
Diana Remenyi (Hungary) 2:26.69
Chiara Boggiatto (Italy) 2:27.55
Smilijana Marinovic (Croatia) 2:27.83

200 metres freestyle relay
Netherlands
(Hinkelien Schreuder, Annabel Kosten,
Chantal Groot, Marleen Veldhuis) 1:38.13 (world best)
Germany 1:39.20
Sweden 1:40.29
Britain 1:40.78
France 1:40.82
Czech Republic 1:41.57
Greece 1:41.94
Denmark 1:42.17

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