2007 World Swimming Cup, Berlin: Nystrand, Veldhuis Set WRs, Pereira Sets Cup Record, Torres Sets AR

BERLIN, Germany, November 17. OUT of all the FINA World Cup stops, Berlin, Germany has proven to be the fastest thus far in the circuit. With world records, Cup records and a bunch of other close calls including an American record, Berlin looks to be an exciting two-day meet.

A pair of global standards fell as Sweden's Stefan Nystrand and the Netherlands' Marleen Veldhuis shined in the sprint freestyle events. Meanwhile, Brazil's Thiago Pereira put on a show in the medley event. The performance included a World Cup standard in one of them. Additionally, Dara Torres of the United States continued her remarkable year as she captured her second American record in a handful of months.

Women's 800 freestyle
While top-flight swimming returned to the country that just produced Kate Ziegler's world-record time of 8:08.00 in a meet in Essen last month, the World Cup swimmers couldn't come close to the standard.

Italy's Alessia Filippi pocketed the gold medal with a time of 8:16.25, which is now the third-fastest time in the world this year behind only Ziegler and Kylie Palmer (8:14.11). She posted splits of 1:02.64, 2:06.08, 3:09.29, 4:12.20, 5:13.57, 6:14.77 and 7:16.54 on the way to the win.

China's Ha Si Nan placed a distant second in 8:28.27, while Germany's Jaana Ehmcke wound up third in 8:30.63.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 100 freestyle
After losing out on a world record performance at the Moscow, Russia stop of the World Cup due to a disqualification, Sweden's Stefan Nystrand left no doubt in the Berlin stop.

Nystrand rocketed to a global standard of 45.83 to become the first sub-46 man in the 100 freestyle over short course meters. That time destroyed the previous world record of 46.25 held by both the United States' Ian Crocker and South Africa's Roland Schoeman. Nystrand will also cash in on a world record bounty set up by FINA for the World Cup series.

Meanwhile, Australia's Eamon Sullivan touched second in 47.08 and Schoeman wound up third in 47.20.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Women's 200 freestyle
France's Laure Manaudou returned to international competition after a stressful summer that include coaching changes, address changes and just overall way of life changes.

That return was triumphant, as she touched first in the women's 200 free with a scorching time of 1:53.48, the first sub-1:54 mark of the year as she trumped Libby Lenton's 1:54.22 set at the Sydney stop. Manaudou clocked splits of 27.07, 55.64 and 1:24.40 on the way to scaring Lenton's world record of 1:53.29.

Sweden's Josefin Lillhage, continuing a strong circuit, placed second in 1:54.22 to cut her season-best time of 1:55.40., while Italy's Federica Pellegrini earned third in 1:55.29.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 50 breaststroke
South Africa's Cameron van der Burgh came through with the fastest time in the world this year as he took a run at Oleg Lisogor's world record of 26.17. The South African, however, came up short with a gold-winning readout of 26.88, the first sub-27 time of the year. It also finished ahead of the previous top marks this year of 27.12 set by both Brenton Rickard and Christian Sprenger.

Italy's Alessandro Terrin posted a sterling time of his own with a second-place 27.15, while the Netherlands' Robin van Aggele took third in 27.31. Lisogor, representing Ukraine, picked up fourth in 27.40.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Women's 100 breaststroke
Germany's Sarah Poewe and Sonja Schoeber gave the home crowd something to cheer for as they accomplished a 1-3 finish in the women's 100 breast. Poewe hit the wall in 1:06.14 to touch out Russian teenager Yuliya Efimova (1:06.16). Poewe's effort knocked her season-best time down from a 1:08.36 set in Essen.

Notably, the second-place finish for Efimova broke her six-event winning streak in the World Cup breaststroke events. However, the competition proved beneficial for the 15-year-old as she cut her season-best time down from a 1:06.90.

Schoeber, meanwhile, rounded out the top three with a time of 1:06.32 to complete a hotly-contested final in the event.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 400 IM
Brazil's Thiago Pereira put a scare into another world record, this time when he crushed a Michael Phelps' World Cup mark in the men's distance medley event.

Pereira posted splits of 55.65, 1:55.57 and 3:03.41 on the way to a blistering time of 4:00.63 in the short course meter medley event. He finished just shy of Laszlo Cseh's global standard of 4:00.37, but obliterating the 4:03.99 set by Phelps at the New York stop in Feb. 2006. Incidentally, Pereira also far surpassed the previous top time this year of 4:09.20 set by Australia's Leith Brodie at the Aussie Short Course Championships in August.

Italy's Alessio Boggiatto finished his race well behind with a 4:06.75, while Greece's Ioannis Drymonakos took third in 4:08.82.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Women's 100 butterfly
The Netherlands' Inge Dekker made a run at the World Cup standard of 56.34 set by Natalie Coughlin in Nov. 2002, but fell shot with a winning effort of 56.88. That performance put her second in the world this year behind only Coughlin's 56.35 from the Singapore stop. It also cut her season-best time of 57.55 from last month.

South Africa's Mandy Loots put together a season-best readout of 57.79 for second place to surpass her 57.86 set at the Durban stop. Meanwhile, Slovakia's Martina Moravcova earned third in 58.13, also a season best bettering her 58.26 from the Moscow stop.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 100 backstroke
The United States' Randall Bal kept rolling through the backstroke events as he went 16-for-16 with a triumph in the middle-distance backstroke event. Bal put on a show as he chased the World Cup record of 50.58 set by Thomas Rupprath in Dec. 2002, but came up just short with a 50.66 – the top time in the world this year. The time put him ahead of Australia's Matt Welsh this year, as he previously held the top mark with a 50.71 from August.

Rupprath, representing Germany, led his country to a 2-3-4 finish with a second-place time of 51.54. Aschwin Wildeboer (51.89) and Helge Meeuw (52.03) took third and fourth, respectively.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Women's 50 backstroke
The German crowd cheered loudly as a pair of hometown girls took a run at the world record of 26.83 set by China's Li Hui in 2001. Antje Buschschulte and Janine Pietsch, however, came up a bit short with the first sub-27 readouts this year. Buschshulte sprinted to a winning time of 26.94, while Pietsch grabbed second in 26.98.

Meanwhile, the United States' Leila Vaziri, who just had her long course world record in the 50 back broken by China's Yang Li, wound up third in 27.49.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 200 butterfly
China's Chen Yin cruised as he captured the men's 200 fly title with a time of 1:52.97. He split times of 25.10, 53.81 and 1:23.20 on the way to the second-best time in the year so far. He stands behind only Nikolay Skvortsov's near world-record effort of 1:50.74 set at the Moscow stop.

Australia's Nick D'Arcy nabbed second-place honors with a time of 1:54.00 to cut .35 seconds off his season-best time of 1:54.35 set at the Aussie Short Course Championships in August. Meanwhile, New Zealand's Moss Burmester checked in with a third-place effort of 1:54.62.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Women's 200 IM
France's Laure Manaudou clinched her second gold medal of the day when she easily captured the win with a time of 2:09.27. While still off the World Cup mark of 2:08.44 set by Yana Klochkova in 2003, Manaudou still jumped into the top spot in the world as she nipped Katarzyna Baranowska's time of 2:09.63 set in Moscow.

Russia's Daria Belyakina ended up taking second in 2:11.31, while South Africa's Mandy Loots placed third in 2:11.95.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 400 freestyle
Korea's Tae Hwan Park continued his march towards Grant Hackett's top time this world of 3:35.36 set at the Australian Short Course Championships in August. This time, Park whacked more than three seconds from his previous season-best time of 3:39.99 set at the Sydney stop with a winning effort of 3:336.68. He split times of 53.28, 1:47.95 and 2:42.86 along the way.

Germany's Paul Biedermann settled for silver with a time of 3:38.22, still making him the third fastest in the world this year.

Meanwhile, Italy's Federico Colbertaldo (3:41.52) and Massimiliano Rosolino (3:43.72) ended up third and fourth, respectively.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Women's 50 freestyle
With Sweden's Stefan Nystrand already knocking out the global standard in the men's 100 free, the Netherlands' Marleen Veldhuis decided to do the same in the women's 50 free.

Veldhuis blazed the splash-and-dash event with a time of 23.58 to pip Sweden's Therese Alshammar's global standard of 23.59 set way back in March 2000. The mark also jumped Veldhuis well ahead of Libby Lenton's season-best time of 23.77 set at the Australian Short Course Championships in August.

Additionally, the United States' Dara Torres rocketed past the previous American record of 24.21 set by Kara Lynn Joyce in March 2004. Torres led prelims with an AR-time of 23.87 before posting a blistering time of 23.82 for second place in finals.

Notably, Alshammar (24.05) and teammate Anna-Karin Kammerling (24.32) took third and fourth, respectively.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 200 breaststroke
Russia's Grigory Falko and France's Hugues Duboscq provided a close contest for the Berlin fans as the duo finished within .1 seconds of each other. Falko, however, surfaced victorious with a time of 2:08.60. Duboscq, on the other hand, took second in 2:08.70.

Falko had to use a superior final 50 to track down Duboscq as the Frenchman led 1:35.64 to 1:35.99 at the 150-meter mark. Falko, however, had too much down the stretch with a 32.61 against Duboscq's 33.06.

Denmark's Chris Christensen took third in 2:09.71 to complete the podium.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 100 IM
As opposed to his win in the 400 IM, Brazil's Thiago Pereira had some competition in the sprint medley. Pereira, however, had enough left in his tank to hold off South African challengers Gerhard Zandberg and Roland Schoeman.

Pereira completed the race in 52.42 to post the fastest time in the world this year, ahead of Leith Brodie's 52.76 set in August. Meanwhile, Zandberg also eclipsed Brodie's time with a second-place readout of 52.45, just .03 seconds behind Pereira. Schoeman settled for third with a time of 53.26, which cut his season-best time down from a 53.87 set at the Singapore stop.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 50 butterfly
Serbia's Milorad Cavic ended what became a scintillating night of competition with the fastest time in the world this year in the sprint fly event. His top time of 23.19 surpassed the 23.26 set by Matt Welsh at the Australian Short Course Championships held in August.

Meanwhile, Germany's Thomas Rupprath picked up a silver medal with a time of 23.22, while Australia's Andrew Lauterstein earned bronze in 23.37.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

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