Mare Nostrum, Barcelona: Alicia Coutts Rattles Textile Best, Doubles; Laszlo Cseh Clocks Top-Ranked Effort

BARCELONA, Spain, June 5. THE Mare Nostrum, as always, produces some of the fastest long course meter times of the summer. Today's second day of competition at the first top in Barcelona was no different as Alicia Coutts doubled, and nearly tracked down a textile best in the process.

Coutts crushed the women's 200 IM field with a scorching time of 2:09.68. That swim nearly clipped the textile best time of 2:09.37 in the event clocked by Ye Shiwen in 2010. The time did eclipse Coutts' previous world best this year of 2:10.06 to become the first sub 2:10 this season. Coutts' effort also stands as her lifetime best as her previous top time had been a 2:09.70 at the Commonwealth Games last year. She remains 10th all time in the event with Hannah Miley's 2:09.46 next in line. Mireia Belmonte Garcia touched a distant second in 2:12.55, while Keri-Anne Payne earned third in 2:13.99.

Coutts claimed the first title of a daily double when she topped the women's 100 free in 54.27, short of her second-ranked season best of 53.80 from April. Sarah Sjostrom took second in 55.00, while Angie Bainbridge placed third in 55.09.

Coutts must have been feeling the effects of the positive karma of being on the Morning Swim Show recently.

Laszlo Cseh posted the top time in the world this year in the men's 400 IM with a blazing effort of 4:11.22. That swim beat his 2005 meet record of 4:12.59, and clipped Wang Chengxiang's 4:11.89 from April as the top time in the world this year. David Verraszto took second in 4:11.71 to stand second in the world, while Alexander Tikhonov finished a distant third in 4:19.73.

Gergo Kis topped the men's 1500 free in 15:01.43. That effort shot him up to fifth in the world rankings. Only Sun Ynag (14:42.52), Samuel Pizzetti (14:56.47), Yosuke Miyamoto (14:57.56) and Mateusz Sawrymowicz (15:00.82) have been faster this year. Sergiy Frolov took second in 15:06.77 to move into the top 10, while Sebastien Rouault grabbed third in 15:10.70 for the top 20.

Ryosuke Irie downed the meet record in the men's 100 back with a 53.48. That swim beat the 54.22 set by Ashley Delaney in 2008, but came up short of Irie's second-ranked season best of 53.10 from April. Junya Koga took second in 53.91 to take eighth in the rankings, while Liam Tancock finished third in 55.09. Tancock has been swifter this year with a third-ranked 53.44.

Natsumi Hoshi cruised to a meet-record time of 2:07.76 in the women's 200 fly. Her top time this year is a fourth-ranked 2:06.05 from Japan in April. Martina Granstrom took second in 2:09.55, while Mireia Belmonte Garcia touched third in 2:09.72. Granstrom improved to 21st in the world, while Belmonte Garcia is already fifth with a season-best 2:06.25.

Belinda Hocking, who owns the top-ranked time in the world in the women's 200 back with a 2:06.88 from April, checked in with a meet-record effort of 2:07.91 for the win tonight. Shiho Sakai touched second in 2:08.15, just off her fourth-ranked season best of 2:07.98, while Elizabeth Simmonds finished third in 2:08.61 for seventh in the rankings. Anastasia Zueva finished fourth in 2:08.79 for 10th in the world.

Aya Terakawa won the women's 50 back in 28.21. She's been much faster with the top-ranked time of 27.79 from April on her resume. Anastasia Zueva placed a close second in 28.28, short of her third-ranked season best of 27.99. Mercedes Peris Minguet earned third in 28.31.

Takuro Fujji snared the men's 100 fly title in 52.49. His fastest time this year is a third-ranked 51.84 from April. Kaio Almeida took second in 53.20, while Takeshi Matsuda placed third in 53.31.

Christian van der Burgh set the meet record in the men's 50 breast with a winning 27.56. That swim eclipsed the 27.71 set by James Gibson back in 2003, but fell short of van der Burgh's top-ranked time of 27.24 from April. Alexander Dale Oen took second in 28.04, while Dragos Agache wound up third in 28.16.

Danila Izotov captured the men's 200 free crown in 1:47.90. His fastest time this year stands third with a season best 1:46.14 from April. Alexander Sukhorukov finished second in 1:49.07, while Ross Davenport placed third in 1:50.00.

Yuka Kato just missed her sixth-ranked season best of 26.07 with a winning time of 26.14 in the women's 50 fly. Fran Halsall took second in 26.45, while Svetlana Fedulova picked up third in 27.05.

Boglarka Kapas beat out Joanne Jackson, 4:08.22 to 4:08.76, for the women's 400 free title. Kapas improved to 19th in the world rankings, while Jackson moved up from 22nd to 20th in the rankings. Bainbridge picked up a second podium on the night with a 4:11.21.

Jennie Johansson claimed the women's 100 breast in 1:08.45, while Marina Garcia Urzainqui touched second in 1:08.81. Martina Moravcikova placed third in 1:09.23. Daniel Gyurta captured the men's 200 breast in 2:12.48, while Michael Jamieson (2:12.83) and Akos Molnar (2:12.84) completed the podium.

Evgeny Lagunov won the men's 50 free in 22.51, while Cameron Prosser placed second in 22.75. Dominik Kozma grabbed third in 22.79.

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