Euro Long Course Meet: Men’s 400 IM Features World-Ranked Times

LUXEMBOURG, January 27. THE first day of the long course Euro Meet featured timed finals swims in distance events, plus prelims of the 200 butterfly.

Sabrina Marzahn of Germany started the competition with a win in the women's 800 freestyle with a time of 8:52.29. Aurelie Muller of France tried to keep pace but fell back to finish second in 8:54.58. Martina Van Berkel of Switzerland also fell off Marzahn's pace, finishing third with an 8:54.97.

Sergiy Frolov of the Ukraine pulled away from Austria's Christian Scheruebl at the 1000-meter mark and won the 1500 free handily in 15.24.81. Scheruebl was second in 15:36.47 and Maksym Shemberev of the Ukraine was third with a 15:44.42.

Barbara Zavadova of the Czech Republic won the women's 400 IM in 4:44.40, putting her sixth in the early world rankings of 2012. Second place went to Ukraine's Daryna Zevina with a 4:53.29, ahead of Martina Elhenicka of the Czech Republic, who was third with a 5:07.51.

Greece's Ioannis Drymonakos won the men's 400 IM in 4:18.46 to put him second in the world for 2012 behind Michael Phelps' 4:16.95. Hometown favorite Raphael Stacchiotti used a strong final 100 meters to catch Drymonakos, but settled for second with a 4:18.98 and third in the world rankings. Joe Roebuck of Great Britain finished third with a 4:22.41, which now puts him tenth in the world.

In the prelims of the women's 200 fly, Van Berkel posted the fastest time with a 2:11.76. Ida Marko-Varga and Marzahn rounded out the top three qualifiers with times of 2:13.26 and 2:18.85, respectively.

Velimir Stjepanovic of Serbia will be the top seed in the men's 200 fly after a prelim time of 2:00.78. Drymonakos returned from the 400 IM to post a 2:03.29 in the 200 fly for the second seed, while Alon Mandel of Israel was third with a 2:04.04.

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