Mare Nostrum, Barcelona: Leisel Jones Shines Again

BARCELONA, Spain, June 11. LEISEL Jones went big again during the second day of swimming at the Barcelona stop of the Mare Nostrum.

Jones, who owns the world record with a 1:05.09 in the women's 100 breast from 2006, clocked the best time in the year this year with a 1:05.72. She'd previously posted a 1:05.75 during the Australian Olympic Trials in March.

Austria's Mirna Jukic placed second in 1:08.07, while Australian Tarnee White finished third in 1:08.32.

Meanwhile, Sophie Edington took a run at her world record in the women's 50 back with a time of 27.83. She came up just short of her 27.67 set in March. Croatia's Sanja Jovanovic finished second in 28.48, while Spain's Nina Zhivanevskaya placed third in 28.60.

In the women's 50 fly, world-record holder Therese Alshammar ripped off a 25.86, just .4 seconds shy of her global standard of 25.46. Felicity Galvez took second in 26.38, while Denmark's Jeanette Ottesen finished third in 26.70 – just missing her national mark of 26.65 from 2007.

Mads Glaesner of Denmark opened the day with a victory in the men's 1500 free (15:17.82). Portugal's Fernando Costa placed second in 15:19.74, while Spain's Marcos Rivera Miranda finished third in 15:25.28.

Brenton Rickard clocked a time of 27.80 to win the men's 50 breast, while South Africa's Cameron van der Burgh took second in 28.06 and Norway's Alexander Dale Oen touched third in 28.17. Rickard later won the men's 200 breast in 2:12.92, while Czech's Jiri Jedlicka (2:14.16) and Denmark's Chris Christensen (2:14.63) made up the top three.

Brazil's Thiago Pereira walked away with the men's 400 IM title in 4:12.90. Hungary's David Verraszto placed second in 4:16.30, while Austria's Dinko Jukic took third in 4:17.72.

Alice Mills of Australia won a shootout with Josefin Lillhage of Sweden by the slimmest of margins, 54.93 to 54.94, in the women's 100 free. Angie Bainbridge of Australia rounded out the podium in 55.06.

Australia's Ashley Delaney checked in with a meet-record time of 54.22 in the men's 100 back, while Germany's Helge Meeuw (54.46) and Australia's Hayden Stoeckel (55.07) finished 2-3.

In a star-studded finale, Australia's Eamon Sullivan won the 50 free in 22.12 after setting the meet record with a 22.05 in prelims. Sweden's Stefan Nystrand (22.23), France's Fred Bousquet (22.41) and Brazil's Cesar Cielo (22.46) made up the top four.

Hanae Ito of Japan followed with a meet-record time of 2:09.17 in the women's 200 back. Australia's Belinda Hocking finished second in 2:10.25, while teammate Meagen Nay touched third in 2:10.74.

After setting the meet record with a 2:07.87 during prelims, Galvez emerged with the title in the women's 200 fly when she touched in 2:08.24. South Africa's Wendy Loots placed second in 2:10.49, while Hungary's Beatrix Boulsevicz snared third in 2:10.78. Loots broke the South African record she previously owned with a 2:10.58 from 2000.

Although Adam Pine set the men's 100 fly meet record with a 52.44 during prelims, he finished fourth at night with a time of 53.01. Compatriot Andrew Lauterstein won in 52.66, with Ukraine's Andriy Serdinov (52.78) and Australia's Garth Kates (52.98) taking second and third.

World-record holder Stephanie Rice clocked a strong time in the women's 200 IM to win in 2:11.94, while Denmark's Julie Hjorth-Hansen (2:13.01) and Hungary's Evelyn Verraszto (2:13.32) comprised the rest of the top three. Hjorth-Hansen's time lowered her own national record of 2:13.14 set last year.

Patrick Murphy followed with a time of 1:48.77 in the men's 200 free, while teammate Nicholas Ffrost took second in 1:48.98. Another Australian completed the top-three sweep as Kirk Palmer finished in 1:49.36.

Trott completed the day with a triumph in the women's 400 free when she hit the wall in 4:08.96. Spain's Erika Villaecija Garcia finished second in 4:10.82, while Arantxa Ramos Plasencia took third in 4:11.54.

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