Mare Nostrum, Barcelona: First Evening Produces Several Meet Records

BARCELONA, Spain, June 4. THE Mare Nostrum circuit kicked off with a strong day of long course meter swimming in Barcelona, Spain.

A pair of sub 1:00 times went into the books in the women's 100 back with Belinda Hocking winning with a meet-record 59.81. Aya Terakawa placed second in 59.84. Both have been faster this year with Hocking ranking third with a 59.55 and Terakawa standing atop the mountain with a 59.17. Anastasia Zueva took third overall tonight in 1:00.06.

Laszlo Cseh lowered the meet record in the men's 200 IM with a winning time of 1:58.94. That swim cleared the 1:59.12 set by Markus Rogan last year, and pushed Cseh to sixth in the world rankings this year. Takuro Fujii placed second in 2:00.38 for 25th in the world, while Simon Sjodin finished third in 2:01.01.

Ryosuke Irie posted a meet record in the men's 200 back with a triumphant 1:54.62. That time came up a bit short of his top-ranked 1:54.08 set in April this year. Peter Bernek finished well behind with a second-place 1:58.66 for 16th in the world, while Kazuki Watanabe earned third in 1:58.87 for 20th in the rankings.

Alicia Coutts, who holds the top time in the world this year in the women's 100 fly with a 57.25 from April, nearly repeated the effort with a meet-record 57.36. That swim beat the 2006 meet mark of 57.60 set by Felicity Galvez. Ellen Gandy placed second in 58.82 for 22nd in the rankings, while Sarah Sjostrom took third in 58.86 – well off her second-ranked season best of 57.32 from April.

Ryusuke Sakata, who stands second in the world in the men's 200 fly with a 1:55.11, touched out Bence Biczo, 1:56.40 to 1:56.60, for the victory tonight. Biczo holds sixth in the world with a season best 1:55.96 from March. Takeshi Matsuda pocketed third-place honors with a 1:56.75, much slower than his top-ranked season best of 1:54.12 from April.

Mireia Belmonte put on a show in the women's 400 IM with a victorious time of 4:39.69, but was well short of her top-ranked season best of 4:34.91. Sara Thyden touched second in 4:46.26, while Claudia Dasca Romeu placed third in 4:46.47.

Jenny Johansson claimed the women's 50 breast title in 31.25, but has been faster with a sixth-ranked 30.98 from April. Satomi Suzuki placed second in 31.83, while Petra Chocova took third in 32.02.

Junya Koga grabbed the men's 50 back crown in 25.19, off his fifth-ranked season best of 24.97. Liam Tancock finished second in 25.35, while Gerhard Zandberg wound up third in 25.50.

Gergo Kis clocked in at 11th in the world rankings in the men's 400 free with a winning 3:48.85, while Sergiy Frolov placed second in 3:50.89. Sebastien Rouault picked up third-place honors in 3:51.41.

Fran Halsall won the women's 50 free in 25.01 to tie Sarah Sjostrom for 12th in the world rankings. Svetlana Fedulova placed second in 25.52, while Sjostrom wound up third in 25.53.

Satomi Suzuki captured the women's 200 breast title in 2:25.64, coming up short of her seventh-ranked season best of 2:24.36 from April. Marina Garcia Urzainqui took second in 2:26.32 for 18th in the rankings, while Sally Foster placed third in 2:26.35. Foster has been faster this year with a ninth-ranked 2:24.65 from April.

Angie Bainbridge claimed the women's 200 free title in 1:57.83, just off her ninth-ranked season best of 1:57.36 from April. Joanne Jackson took second in 1:58.55, while Hanae Ito earned third in 1:58.77.

Christian Sprenger topped the men's 100 breast in 1:00.73, just a bit shy of his seventh-ranked time of 1:00.37. Ryo Tateishi took second in 1:01.01, off his sixth-ranked season best of 1:00.31, while Alexander Dale Oen posted a third-place 1:01.06 for 17th place. Cameron van der Burgh finished a surprising fourth with a 1:01.34 after ranking fifth in the world with a season best 1:00.29 from April.

Evgeny Lagunov won the men's 100 free in 49.28, while James Roberts took second in 49.54. Andrey Grechin picked up third in 49.57. Erika Villaecija Garcia captured the women's 800 free in 8:31.09, while Belmonte finished second in 8:31.84. Dasca Romeu pocketed third in 8:31.92.

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