European Short Course Championships: Daniil Izotov, Stanislav Donets Post Sterling Times; Sarai Gascon Moreno Lowers Paralympic World Record

EINDHOVEN, The Netherlands, November 28. THE European Short Course Championships came to a close with some incredibly fast swimming in Eindhoven.

Women's 50 free semis/finals
The Netherlands' Ranomi Kromowidjojo (23.80) and Hinkelien Schreuder (24.32) posted the top two times with Kromowidjojo clipping her previously top-ranked time of 23.88 set earlier in the meet. Germany's Britta Steffen (24.48) and Dorothea Brandt (24.70) qualified third and fourth.

Ukraine's Oxana Serikova (24.88), France's Anna Santamans (24.89), Belarus' Yuliya Khitraya (24.96) and Ukraine's Nadiya Koba (24.97) also made the finale.

Kromowidjojo came back in the finale with a blazing fast time of 23.58 to move to sixth all time. Schreuder (23.90) and Steffen (23.95) rounded out the podium.

Brandt (24.48), Serikova (24.58), Khitraya (24.63), Koba (24.79) and Santamans (25.02) comprised the rest of the championship field.

Men's 50 fly semis/finals
Ukraine's Andriy Govorov raced to the top time with a 22.88, just missing his fifth-ranked season best of 22.81 from prelims. The Netherlands' Joeri Verlinden placed second in 23.25, while Germany's Steffen Deibler took third in 23.28.

Austria's Martin Spitzer (23.36), Italy's Paolo Facchinelli (23.45), Croatia's Mario Todorovic (23.46), Switzerland's Flori Lang (23.73) and Croatia's Alexei Puninski (23.76) placed fourth through eighth.

Deibler returned to win finals going away in 22.34, eclipsing Roland Schoeman's previously top-ranked time of 22.39 from the Berlin stop of the World Cup. Govorov took second in 22.74 to move to fifth in the rankings, while Verlinden earned third in 23.23.

Facchinelli (23.25), Spitzer (23.31), Todorovic (23.42), Puninski (23.50) and Lang (23.56) wound up fourth through eighth in the finale.

Women's 400 IM finals
Hungary's Zsuzsanna Jakabos captured the distance medley in 4:29.78 to move to fourth in the world rankings, and join only three other swimmers (Julia Smit, 4:27.70; Ye Shiwen, 4:28.67; Zheng Rongrong, 4:29.26) to have cleared 4:30 this year. Slovenia's Anja Klinar touched second in 4:30.83, while France's Lara Grangeon took third in 4:30.93.

Russia's Yana Martynova (4:31.87), Italy's Francesca Segat (4:33.66), Czech's Barbora Zavadova (4:33.71), Ireland's Grainne Murphy (4:37.47) and Italy's Alessia Polieri (4:40.08) rounded out the finale.

Men's 200 breast finals
Germany's Marco Koch raced to the second-ranked position in the world with a winning time of 2:04.86. Only Naoya Tomita has been faster with a top-ranked 2:03.18. Spain's Mel Alvarez Caraballo finished second in 2:05.41 to take third in the world, while Russia's Anton Lobanov earned third in 2:06.71

Luxembourg's Laurent Carnol (2:07.12), Austria's Hunor Mate (2:07.66), Italy's Edoardo Giorgetti (2:07.66) and Lithuania's Edvinas Dautartas (2:09.04) finished fourth through seventh. Ukraine's Igor Borysik was disqualified.

Women's 200 free finals
The Netherlands' Femke Heemskerk threw down a strong time of 1:52.62, just missing her top-ranked season best of 1:52.42 set at the Berlin stop of the World Cup. Germany's Silke Lippok earned second in 1:53.96 to take fifth in the world, while Hungary's Evelyn Verraszto wound up third in 1:54.39.

Hungary's Agnes Mutina (1:54.74), Germany's Daniela Schreiber (1:56.46), The Netherlands' Rieneke Terink (1:56.68), Spain's Melanie Costa Schmid (1:56.83) and Norway's Cecilie Johannessen (1:57.76) comprised the rest of the championship heat.

Men's 100 IM finals
Germany's Markus Deibler clocked a swift time of 52.13 for the gold medal, just edging his previously top-ranked effort of 52.17 from the Berlin stop of the World Cup. Tonight's performance leapfrogged Michael Phelps (52.14) into 11th all time. World-record holder Peter Mankoc finished second in 52.87 for fifth in the world, while Spain's Alan Cabello Forns touched third in 53.24.

Croatia's Duje Draganja (53.56), Lithuania's Vytautas Janusaitis (53.63), Russia's Dmitry Zhilin (53.96) and Czech's Tomas Fucik (53.99) grabbed fourth through eighth. Italy's Christian Galenda was disqualified.

Women's 100 fly finals
The Netherlands' Inge Dekker put up a 56.51 for the win to take fourth in the world. Norway's Ingvild Snildal touched second in 57.46, while Italy's Caterina Giacchetti placed third in 58.17.

Hungary's Zsuzsanna Jakabos (58.36), Italy's Alessia Polieri (58.46), Estonia's Triin Aljand (58.77), Hungary's Eszter Dara (58.85) and Belgium's Kimberly Buys (59.05) claimed the other finals finishes.

Men's 200 free finals
In a high-profile matchup, Russia's Daniil Izotov cruised by Germany's Paul Biedermann, 1:41.84 to 1:42.94. Izotov improved upon his previously top-ranked season best of 1:42.77 from the Moscow stop of the World Cup. Biedermann cleared his second-ranked season best of 1:43.03, but still stands behind Izotov on the year. Russia's Evgeny Lagunov rounded out the top three in 1:44.11.

Italy's Filippo Magnini (1:44.22), Germany's Ben Starke (1:44.97), The Netherlands' Stefan De Die (1:45.33), The Netherlands' Joost Reijns (1:45.34) and Belgium's Glenn Surgeloose (1:46.13) placed fourth through eighth.

Women's 100 breast finals
In an exciting finish, The Netherlands' Moniek Nijhuis touched out France's Sophie De Ronchi by the slimmest of margins, 1:06.20 to 1:06.21. The Netherlands' Tessa Brouwer placed third in 1:06.65.

Germany's Caroline Ruhnau (1:06.93), Russia's Valentina Artemyeva (1:06.95), Italy's Chiara Boggiatto (1:08.12), Russia's Ekaterina Baklakova (1:08.25) and Czech's Petra Chocova (1:08.38) made up the rest of the finale.

Men's 100 back finals
Russia's Stanislav Donets came up short in his world-record bid with a time of 49.35. He already owned the top-ranked time in the world with a 49.38, but he missed out becoming the first man in textile under 49 seconds. Donets' 49.38 had been the best textile time ever. Donets posted the swim in open water with Italy's Damiano Lestingi taking a distant second in 51.46. Russia's Artem Dubovskoy finished third in 51.90.

Italy's Mirco Di Tora (52.08), The Netherlands' Nick Driebergen (52.11), Germany's Stefan Herbst (52.33), The Netherlands' Bastiaan Lijesen (52.58) and Israel's Jonatan Kopelev (52.60) also competed in the finale.

Women's 200 back finals
Spain's Duane Da Rocha Marce topped the distance dorsal with a time of 2:03.97, moving to third in the world rankings. The Netherlands' Sharon van Rouwendaal took second in 2:04.13 for fifth in the rankings, while Ukraine's Daryna Zevina earned third in 2:05.08.

France's Alexandra Putra (2:06.25), Czech's Simona Baumrtova (2:06.45), The Netherlands' Wendy van der Zanden (2:06.63), Denmark's Pernille Larsen (2:06.92) and Belgium's Kimberly Buys (2:07.80) turned in the rest of the times in the championship heat.

Men's 200 free relay finals
Italy's Luca Dotto, Lucio Spadaro, Filippo Magnini and Marco Orsi won the relay for the day with a 1:25.16. Germany's Steffen Deibler, Markus Deibler, Stefan Herbst and Christoph Fildebrandt placed second in 1:25.19 in a close contest. Russia's Daniil Izotov, Evgeny Lagunov, Vitaly Syrnikov and Vladimir Bryukhov touched third in 1:25.81.

Croatia (1:25.99), The Netherlands (1:27.05), Belgium (1:27.27), Czech Republic (1:27.75) and Norway (1:28.69) comprised the rest of the finale.

Women's 50 free S9, S10 finals
Spain's Sarai Gascon Moreno lowered the Paralympic world record in the S9 division with a winning time of 28.73. That swim eclipsed the 28.82 set by Irina Grazhdanova last year in Brazil. Compatriot Esther Morales Fernandez led the S10 division with a 28.97, finishing back of her division global standard of 28.38 from last year.

Day Four Finals Results

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