Switzerland Summer Championships: Meet Records Torched

NYON, Switzerland, July 3. THE Switzerland Summer Championships took place June 29-July 1 in Nyon, where several multi-event winners emerged and meet records fell in nearly every event contested over the course of the three-day meet.

On the men's side, swimmers from Schwimmclub Uster Wallisellen dominated the standings, with Simon Rabold (five gold, one bronze), Flori Lang (five gold) and Martin Schweizer (four gold, one bronze) each taking home multiple medals apiece.

Rabold set a new meet record in the 400m free with a time of 3:58.44, the only performance under 4-minutes. In the 200m fly, he left the field in his wake with a dominating three-second win and meet record time of 2:03.14. Finally, he crushed his competitors in the men's 400m IM, winning by more than seven seconds in a new meet record of 4:24.64.

Meanwhile, Lang proved to be the top sprinter at the meet, setting new meet records in three of the four 50m races contested. In the 50m free, he posted a 22.68 for a four-tenths of a second victory. Later in the meet, he collected commanding victories in the 50m back (25.86) and 50m fly (24.88).

Schweizer established new meet records in the men's 50m breast (28.74) and 100m breast (1:02.81). Yannick Kaser denied him the breaststroke triple, winning the 200m in a new meet record of 2:17.94.

Meet records also fell in the men's 100m free (Artyom Machekin, 51.64), 200m free (Jean-Baptiste Febo, 1:53.60), 100m back (Lukas Rauftlin, 57.96), 200m back (Lukas Rauftlin, 2:07.56), 100m fly (Alexandre Liess, 55.37) and 200m IM (David Karasek, 2:06.72).

For the women, Limmat Sharks Zurich's Danielle Villars (four gold), Schwimmclub Uster Wallisellen's Julia Hassler (three gold, two silver) and Nuoto Sport Locarno's Ivana Gabrilo (three gold) were the top performers of the meet.

Villars emerged from a tightly bunched field to take first in the women's 100m free with a 58.36, slipping under the previous meet record in the event. In the 50m fly, she pulled away to win in 28.31, also a meet record. Her time of 2:19.20 topped the field of the women's 200m fly by more than four seconds and also marked a new meet record. Villars' fourth meet record came in the 200m IM, as she checked in with a time of 2:21.33.

Hassler captured the women's 200m free in 2:04.12 (a new meet record) and 800m free in 8:45.86. Her victory in the longer distance came by almost 19 seconds.

Gabrilo set a trio of meet records in the 50m free, 50m back and 100m back. She hit the touchpad first in the women's 50m free, winning by .09 in 26.62, and continued her winning ways in the 50m back, recording the only sub-30 time of 29.89. In the 100m back, she swam a 1:04.32 to easily outdistance the field.

Other winners included Annick van Westendorp (400m free, 4:19.94; meet record, and 400m IM, 5:00.40; meet record), Martina van Berkel (200m back, 2:18.26; meet record, and 100m fly, 1:02.15; meet record), Franziska Hugli (50m breast, 32.87; meet record) and Jennifer Bovay (100m breast, 1:12.85; meet record, and 200m breast, 2:36.08; meet record).

Schwimmclub Uster Wallisellen captured the men's 4x100m free relay (3:27.03) and 4x100m medley relay (3:49.83), while Geneve Natation 1885 won the 4x200m free relay in 7:38.86. All three times broke the previous meet records.

A-Club Swimming Team led the way in the women's 4x100m free relay (4:01.24) and 4x200m free relay (8:42.27). Schwimmclub Uster Wallisellen won the 4x100m medley relay in 4:30.32, as all three meet records fell in the relays.

In all, meet records fell in every event but the men's 1500m free and women's 800m free.

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