Paris Open: Top-Flight International Meet Opens With Day One Prelims

PARIS, France, August 2. THE Paris Open began with plenty of quick times during the first day of prelims. It should be interesting to watch how the times stack up against the rest of the national championships across the world, including USA Swimming's best battle for national crowns in Indianapolis.

Men's 200 freestyle prelims
Canada's Brent Hayden topped the morning prelims with a time of 1:49.21, while Poland's Pawel Korzeniowski finished second in 1:49.39. Italy's Massimiliano Rosolino rounded out the top three that touched under 1:50 with a third-place 1:49.64.

Canada's Andrew Hurd (1:50.11), Germany's Paul Biedermann (1:50.47), Russia's Andrey Kapralov (1:50.53), Italy's Nicola Cassio (1:50.53) and Israel's Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or (1:50.57) made up the rest of the top eight.

Notably, the United States' Aaron Peirsol finished 12th in 1:50.88.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Women's 50 breaststroke prelims
New Zealand's Zoe Baker paced prelims with a time of 31.79, while Germany's Janne Schaefer (31.84), Russia's Elena Bogomazova (32.10) and Austria's Mirna Jukic (32.11) finished second through fourth.

Germany's Sarah Poewe (32.27), Hungary's Agnes Kovacs (32.43) and Ukraine's Svitlana Bondarenko (32.56) and Yuliya Pidlisna (32.57) comprised the rest of the top eight.

The United States' Amanda Beard placed ninth in 32.60 to make semis.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 100 butterfly prelims
Ukraine dominated prelims with four in the top eight, but only two will move on to semis due to the two-per country rule.

Russia's Nikolay Skvortsov led qualifying with a time of 52.85, while Artem Pron and Denys Sylantyev of Ukraine grabbed second and third in 52.96 and 53.17.

Sweden's Lars Frolander placed fourth in 53.44, while Sergiy Breus (53.51) and Andriy Serdinov (53.53) took fifth and sixth for Ukraine, but will not advance. Russia's Evgeny Korotyshkin (53.73) and Germany's Thomas Rupprath (53.92) touched seventh and eighth, respectively.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Women's 100 freestyle prelims
World record holder Britta Steffen of Germany posted the quickest morning time by nearly a second with a 54.58. Canada's Erica Morningstar, just off her great performance at the Canadian National Champs, placed second in 55.52, while France's Alena Popchanka took third in 55.55.

Germany's Petra Dallmann touched fourth in 55.90, while France's Celine Couderc (56.15), Spain's Tatiana Rouba Bieniarz (56.41), Sweden's Claire Hedenskog (56.41) and Canada's Genevieve Saumur (56.42) comprised the rest of the top eight.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 100 breaststroke prelims
Ukraine had another stellar prelim performance, this time with a top-two effort in the men's 100 breast. Igor Borysik clocked a 1:00.78, while teammate Valeriy Dymo finished second in 1:01.50.

Russia's Sergey Geybel grabbed third in 1:01.80, while Great Britain's Chris Cook (1:01.97), France's Hugues Duboscq (1:02.09) and Great Britain's James Gibson (1:02.15) took fourth through sixth.

Russia's Dmitry Komornikov (1:02.17), Canada's Mike Brown (1:02.23) and Russia's Grigory Falko (1:02.23) completed the rest of the top eight, while Falko will not move on to semis due to the two-per country rule.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Women's 200 butterfly prelims
Poland's Otylia Jedrzeljczak easily clocked the fastest time of the morning in 2:08.43, while Hungary's Beatrix Boulsevicz (2:10.30) and Germany's Franziska Hentke (2:10.53) finished second and third, respectively.

Portugal's Sara Oliveira (2:11.57), Canada's Tanya Hunks (2:13.19), Ukraine's Tetyana Khala (2:13.96), Portugal's Sara Alexandra Madeira (2:14.12) and Great Britain's Jessica Dickons (2:14.29) made up the rest of the championship final.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 50 backstroke prelims
While the entire field will make semis, except for Israel's Itai Chama who placed 11th in 26.95 but will not advance due to the two-per country rule, his compatriot Guy Barnea led qualifying in 25.60.

World-record holder Thomas Rupprath finished second in 26.07, while the United States' Randall Bal picked up third in 26.09.

Russia's Arkady Vyatchanin (26.16), Croatia's Marko Strahija (26.33), Spain's Aschwin Wildeboer Faber (26.34), Germany's Helge Meeuw (26.39) and Israel's Ilia Ayzenshtok (26.60) claimed the rest of the top eight spots.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Women's 400 IM prelims
Italy's Alessia Filippi stopped the clock in 4:43.06 for the top seed, while Russia's Yana Martynova (4:44.07) and Ukraine's Yana Klochkova (4:45.35) took second and third, respectively.

Hungary's Katinka Hosszu (4:45.73) and Zsuzsanna Jakabos (4:46.13) finished fourth and fifth, while Germany's Nicole Hetzer (4:46.19), Poland's Katarzyna Baranowska (4:46.77) and France's Camille Muffat (4:47.05) snagged sixth through eighth.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 400 IM prelims
Italy's Luca Marin claimed the top time in the morning with a 4:19.02, while Hungary's David Verraszto (4:21.20) and Gergo Kis (4:21.55) earned second and third.

Russia's Andrey Krylov (4:22.13), Japan's Hidemasa Sano (4:24.94) and Poland's Mateusz Matczak (4:26.82) took fourth through sixth, while Israel's Gal Nevo (4:26.93) and Spain's Sergio Garcia Ortiz (4:27.75) will also race for the title in the championship heat.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Women's 100 backstroke prelims
While a pair of Ukrainians (Iryna Amshenniova (1:02.27) and Kateryna Zubkova (1:02.44)) finished second and third, France's Laure Manaudou reigned with a time of 1:00.95 in the morning.

Russia's Anastasia Zueva (1:02.47), Germany's Antje Buschschulte (1:02.57) and Israel's Anna Gostomelsky (1:02.61) placed fourth through sixth, while Hungary's Evelyn Verraszto (1:02.76) and Nikolett Szepesi (1:03.11) took seventh and eighth, respectively.

The United States' Margaret Hoelzer also made semis with a ninth-place 1:03.14.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 400 freestyle relay prelims
Ukraine's Yuriy Yegoshin, Olexandr Isakov, Maxyn Kushnaryov and Olexandr Tsepukh led qualifying with a time of 3:20.13, while France's Antoine Galavtine, Fred Bousquet, David Maitre and Gregory Mallett took second in 3:20.65. Russia's Andrey Grechin, Evgeny Lagunov, Sergey Fesikov and Nikita Lobintsev placed third in 3:20.98.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

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