Euro Champs, Day 3 Prelims: World Champ Gibson Knocked Out in First Round of 50 Breast; Germany and Britain Dominate

By Phillip Whitten

DUBLIN, Ireland, December 13. IN a shocking turn of events here in Dublin, Britain's James Gibson, the world long course champion in the 50 meter breaststroke, was eliminated from that event in a swim-off with fellow Brit, Chris Cook, only a day after setting a Championship record in winning the 100 meter breast.

Gibson and Cook clocked an identical time in the heats and had to swim off for the second British place in the evening's semifinals. The rules allow up to four swimmers from a country to swim in the heats, but only the top two can advance beyond the first round. Darren Mew, bronze medalist to Gibson's gold in the 100 breaststroke, touched third in his heat in 27.44, which proved quicker than Gibson and Cook, who tied for first place in the last heat in 27.54.

In the swim-off, Cook clocked 27.27 to Gibson's 27.53.

The surprise top qualifier in the 50 breast was Sweden's Stefan Nystrand, who lost his 50 meter freestyle crown to Britain's Mark Foster on Thursday. Revealing an unsuspected talent as a breaststrokeer, Nystrand touched in 27.20.

Germany and Britain dominated the proceedings this morning, collecting the top spot in five of the eight events contested.

Germany's Janine Pietsch (28.09) and Antje Buschschulte (28.10) qualified one-two in the 50m back. Buschschulte, the defending champion in this event, won the 100 back last night. Two Britons — double Commonwealth champion Sarah Price and world long-course 200 backstroke gold medalist Katy Sexton — also returned the same time, but unlike Gibson and Cook, they were their nation's fastest pair and both went through to the semifinals.

Germany scored another one-two sweep in the heats of the men's 100m back, with Steffen Driesen first in 51.97 and Thomas Rupprath second in 52.13. Britain's Gregor Tait occupies the third spot at 52.62.

Germany notched its third sweep of the morning in the women's 100m breast, with Sarah Poewe, a University of Georgia student, leading the way in a CR
1:06.43 followed by teammate Simone Weiler in 1:06.97 — the only two sub-1:07 efforts. Once again a brit turned in the third fastest time when Rachel Genner touched in 1:07.04. Sitting in fourth place is Sweden's Emma Igelstrom, the defending champion and former WR-holder (1:05.11), but off her 50 swim, the Swede will be hard-pressed to repeat.

Britain placed first and second in the prelims of the 400m free, with Rebecca Cooke touching in 4:06.06 followed by Joanne Jackson at 4:06.30.
The eight finalists, including Hungary's Eva Risztov, are tightly bunched, but missing from the final will be triple world champion Hannah Stockbauer of Germany, a distant sixth in Friday's 800 freestyle, who finished a lackluster 13th in the heats.

Britain's Stephen Parry, a Florida State grad, turned in the fastest time in the heats of the 200m fly, 1:54.30, but in this event no German made it through to the final. The final, however, should be exciting as qualifiers include France's Franck Esposito, the WR-holder (fourth in 1:55.00) and Romania's Ioan Gherghel, an Alabama grad who won the NCAA title in this event the last two years (tied for fifth in 1:55.88).

Slovenia's Peter Mankoc had the fastest time in prelims of the 100 IM, 54.28, with Germans Marco Di Carli and Jens Kruppa occupying the next two spots. Fifth this morning was Finland's Jani Sievinen who won the 200 IM on Thursday in CR time.

Slovakia's Martina Moravcova recorded a 58.02 to lead the field in the prelims of the 100m fly.

Denmark was the surprise leader in the women's 200 meter medley relay prelims at 1:50.60, but the gold medal appears up for grabs. Germany, the #2 qualifier (1:50.80) appears to be strongest all-around, but the Netherlands, Britain and Sweden will all be in the hunt.

European Short Course Championships
Dublin, Ireland
December 11-14, 2003

25 meter pool

PRELIMS
DAY THREE: December 13, 2003

RESULTS

Women's 50 metres backstroke
Qualifiers for semifinals
Janine Pietsch (Germany) 28.09
Antje Buschschulte (Germany) 28.10
Louise Ornstedt (Denmark) 28.15
Ilona Hlavackova (Czech Republic) 28.20
Alessandra Cappa (Italy) 28.41
Sanja Jovanovic (Croatia) 28.56
Carla Stampfli (Switzerland) 28.64
Sarah Price (Britain) 28.66
Katy Sexton (Britain) 28.66
Nikolett Szepesi (Hungary) 28.66

Emelie Kierkegaard (Sweden) 28.89
Jane Kaljonen (Finland) 28.90
Dominique Diezi (Switzerland) 28.93
Susannah Moonan (Sweden) 29.11
Hinkelien Schreuder (Netherlands) 29.17
Alena Nyvltova (Czech Republic) 29.20

Women's 400 metres freestyle
Qualifiers for final

Rebecca Cooke (Britain) 4:06.06
Joanne Jackson (Britain) 4:06.30
Melissa Caballero (Spain) 4:06.54
Regina Sytch (Russia) 4:06.80
Josefin Lillhage (Sweden) 4:07.55
Eva Risztov (Hungary) 4:07.60
Daria Parshina (Russia) 4:08.02
Alessa Ries (Germany) 4:08.05

Men's 100 metres backstroke
Qualifiers for semifinals

Steffen Driesen (Germany) 51.97
Thomas Rupprath (Germany) 52.13
Gregor Tait (Britain) 52.62
Markus Rogan (Austria) 52.63
Orn Arnarson (Iceland) 52.77
Yevgeny Aleshin (Russia) 52.85
Volodymyr Nikolaychuk (Ukraine) 53.11
Laszlo Cseh (Hungary) 53.12

Pierre Roger (France) 53.27
Blaz Medvesek (Slovenia) 53.29
Arkady Yatchanin (Russia) 53.42
Ante Maskovic (Croatia) 53.58
Anton Bugayov (Ukraine) 53.64
Darius Grigalionis (Lithuania) 53.65
Razvan Florea (Romania) 53.70
Jorge Sanchez (Spain) 53.76

Women's 100 metres breaststroke
Qualifiers for semifinals

Sarah Poewe (Germany) 1:06.43CR
Simone Weiler (Germany) 1:06.97
Rachel Genner (Britain) 1:07.04
Emma Igelstrom (Sweden) 1:07.05
Elena Bogomazova (Russia) 1:07.18
Mirna Jukic (Austria) 1:07.84
Majken Thorup (Denmark) 1:07.90
Kirsty Balfour (Britain) 1:08.31

Madelon Baans (Netherlands) 1:08.48
Anne-Mari Gulbrandsen (Norway) 1:08.90
Elisabeth Jarland (Norway) 1:09.09
Moniek Nijhuis (Netherlands) 1:09.25
Petra Hocova (Czech Republic) 1:09.30
Chiara Boggiatto (Italy) 1:09.47
Natalia Hissamutdinova (Estonia) 1:09.56
Sara Larsson (Sweden) 1:09.74

Men's 100 metres individual medley
Qualifiers for semifinals

Peter Mankoc (Slovenia) 54.28
Marco Di Carli (Germany) 54.59
Jens Kruppa (Germany) 54.78
Alexander Hetland (Norway) 54.78
Jani Sievinen (Finland) 54.85
Alexey Zatsepin (Russia) 55.09
Brenton Cabello (Spain) 55.14
Dzianis Silkou (Belarus) 55.15

Jakob Andersen (Denmark) 55.29
Kristian Outinen (Denmark) 55.58
Vytautas Janusaitis (Lithuania) 55.58
Christian Galenda (Italy) 55.61
Erik Dorch (Sweden) 55.65
Igor Berezutskiy (Russia) 55.77
Lorenz Liechti (Switzerland) 55.81
Orel Oral (Turkey) 55.88

Women's 100 metres butterfly
Qualifiers for semifinals

Martina Moravcova (Slovakia) 58.02
Alena Popchanka (Belarus) 58.23
Johanna Sjoberg (Sweden) 59.38
Mette Jacobsen (Denmark) 59.38
Inge Dekker (Netherlands) 59.44
Malia Metella (France) 59.48
Aleksandra Urbanczyk (Poland) 59.51
Chantal Groot (Netherlands) 59.60

Otylia Jedrzejczak (Poland) 59.74
Jeanette Ottesen (Denmark) 59.98
Francesca Segat (Italy) 1:00.09
Maria Papadopolou (Cyprus) 1:00.15
Beatrix Boulsevicz (Hungary) 1:00.16
Gabriella Fagundez (Sweden) 1:00.31
Fabienne Nadarajah (Austria) 1:00.40
Fabienne Dufour (Belgium) 1:00.43

Men's 200 metres butterfly
Qualifiers for final
Stephen Parry (Britain) 1:54.30
Pawel Korzeniowski (Poland) 1:54.46
Nikolay Skvortsov (Russia) 1:54.94
Franck Esposito (France) 1:55.00
Ioan Gherghel (Romania) 1:55.88
Tero Valimaa (Finland) 1:55.88
Anatoly Poliakov (Russia) 1:56.16
Sergiy Advena (Ukraine) 1:56.20

Men's 50 metres breaststroke
Qualifiers for semifinals

Stefan Nystrand (Sweden) 27.20
Alessandro Terrin (Italy) 27.25
Mark Warnecke (Germany) 27.34
Emil Tahirovic (Slovenia) 27.41
Darren Mew (Britain) 27.44
Christopher Cook (Britain) 27.54
Matjaz Markic (Slovenia) 27.57
Remo Luetolf (Switzerland) 27.61

Oleg Lisogor (Ukraine) 27.61
Martin Gustavson (Sweden) 27.68
Hugues Duboscq (France) 27.84
Andrew Bree (Ireland) 27.91
Mladen Tepavcevic (Serbia & Mont.) 28.06
Tudor Ignat (Romania) 28.21
Jose Couto (Portugal) 28.23
Morten Nystram (Norway) 28.25


Women's 200 metres medley relay
Qualifiers for final

Denmark 1:50.60
(Louise Ornstedt, Majken Thorup,
Jeanette Ottesen, Mette Jacobsen)
Germany 1:50.80
(Antje Buschschulte, Sarah Poewe,
Janine Pietsch, Sandra Voelker)
Netherlands 1:51.42
(Hinkelien Schreuder, Madelon Baans,
Inge Dekker, Annabel Kosten)
Britain 1:51.84
(Melanie Marshall, Rachel Genner,
Rosalind Brett, Alison Sheppard)
Sweden 1:52.01
(Emelie Kierkegaard, Emma Igelstrom,
Gabriella Fagundez, Claire Hedenskog)
Russia 1:52.09
(Stanislava Komarova, Vasilisa Vladykina,
Elena Bogomazova, Svetlana Karpeeva)
Italy 1:53.37
(Alessandra Cappa, Chiara Boggiatto,
Elena Gemo, Federica Pellegrini)
Estonia 1:53.66
(Berit Aljand, Jane Trepp,
Triin Aljand, Elina Partyka)

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