World Cup, Berlin: Trio of American Marks Fall, Femke Heemskerk Blazes to World Cup Record During Day One Finals

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BERLIN, Germany, October 30. THE first day of short course meter finals racing is complete at the World Cup stop in Berlin. A trio of U.S. records fell, while Femke Heemskerk rolled to a circuit record.

Women's 800 free
Chile's Kristel Kobrich rolled to victory in the distance free event with a time of 8:21.66. She moved to third in the world rankings behind Katie Goldman (8:12.65) and Blair Evans (8:14.86).

Germany's Sarah Kohler (8:33.64) and Elisa Timm (8:35.69) finished second and third, while Norway's Cecilie Johannessen (8:37.33) and Poland's Joanna Zachoszcz (8:47.06) took fourth and fifth.

Ireland's Niamh O'Sullivan (8:52.75), Germany's Isabell Neumann (8:53.26) and Czech's Dominika Hovorkova (9:20.99) made up the rest of the top eight.

Men's 100 free
Germany's Steffen Deibler (46.69) and Russia's Sergey Fesikov (46.79) finished first and second to move to second and third in the world rankings. Cesar Cielo holds the top time with a 45.87 from the Jose Kinkel Trophy Meet. German's Markus Deibler placed third in 47.13 to take fifth in the rankings.

France's Fabien Gilot (47.17), South Africa's Lyndon Ferns (47.48), Sweden's Stefan Nystrand (47.86), Australia's Matthew Abbod (47.87) and USA's William Copeland (47.88) also swam in the finale.

Women's 200 free
The Netherlands' Femke Heemskerk shot down the World Cup circuit record with a smoking time of 1:52.42. That swim eclipsed the 1:53.29 set by Libby Trickett back in 2005 at the Sydney stop. Heemskerk jumped up to third in the all-time world rankings behind only Federica Pellegrini (1:51.17) and Allison Schmitt (1:51.67). The time also stands fifth in the all-time performances list. Incidentally, Heemskerk also cleared her prelim time of 1:54.13, which had moved her to the top of the world rankings.

USA's Dana Vollmer ripped off a 1:53.67 to take second and move to second in the world rankings this season, while Australia's Angie Bainbridge took third in 1:54.28 for third in the rankings.

Vollmer's time is a U.S. record, clearing Lindsay Benko's 1:54.04 set back in 2002 in Moscow. Allison Schmitt holds the un-ratified record with a 1;51.67 set in a techsuit after USA Swimming instituted its techsuit ban, but prior to the international ban of the techsuit.

Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom (1:55.06), Australia's Merindah Dingjan (1:55.28), Hungary's Agnes Mutina (1:56.70), Germany's Silke Lippok (1:57.20) and Germany's Lisa Vitting (1:57.97) also competed for the title.

Men's 50 breast
South Africa's Roland Schoeman ripped off a 26.09 in the sprint breast for the victory, clipping Cameron van der Burgh (26.21) for the top spot in the world this year. Brazil's Felipe Lima took second in 26.78, while Russia's Stanislav Lakhtyukhov finished third in 26.89.

Russia's Alexandr Triznov (26.95), Norway's Alexander Dale Oen (27.56), Germany's Erik Steinhagen (27.60), China's Xue Jiajia (27.67) and Germany's Johannes Neumann (27.69) comprised the rest of the finale.

Women's 100 breast
Russia's Yuliya Efimova touched in 1:05.54 for the triumph to move to second in the world rankings behind Leisel Jones (1:03.63). Australia's Sally Foster took second in 1:06.11 for fifth in the rankings, while Sweden's Joline Hostmann finished third in 1:06.42.

Sweden's Jennie Johansson (1:06.51), Japan's Mio Motegi (1:07.25), Germany's Caroline Ruhnau (1:07.30), Switzerland's Stephanie Spahn (1:08.63) and Japan's Keiko Fukudome (1:08.75) picked up fourth through eighth.

Men's 400 IM
Brazil's Thiago Pereira won his 14th gold medal of the World Cup circuit with a 4:02.83, just missing his top-ranked effort of 4:02.82. Hungary's David Verraszto touched second in 4:04.62 to move to third in the rankings, while Japan's Daiya Seto earned third in 4:04.66 for fourth in the rankings.

Japans' Kosuke Hagino (4:09.10), Lithuania's Vytautas Janusaitis (4:09.17), Poland's Lukasz Wojt (4:09.19), Germany's Morten Ahme (4:20.55) and China's Sun Han (4:21.64) rounded out the top eight.

Women's 100 fly
USA's Dana Vollmer lowered the U.S. record in the event with a winning time of 55.59. That time not only beat Rachel Komisarz's 56.32 set during the 2008 World Short Course Championships, it also eclipsed the un-ratified internationally-legal mark of 55.81 swam by Christine Magnuson in December 2009 with a techsuit after USA Swimming had already enacted its domestic techsuit ban.

Vollmer also threatened Felicity Galvez's World Cup mark of 55.46, the second-fastest time ever behind only the world record of 55.05 set by Diane Bui Duyet at the European Short Course Championships in December 2009. Incidentally, Vollmer also cleared Therese Alshammar's previously top-ranked effort of 56.12.

Alshammar knocked down second-place honors with a 56.33, while USA's Elaine Breeden took third in 57.90.

Sweden's Martina Granstrom (58.32), USA's Jasmine Tosky (58.34), South Africa's Mandy Loots (58.39), Germany's Daniela Schreiber (59.48) and Germany's Iris Rosenberger (1:00.41) made up the rest of the finale.

Men's 100 back
Six swimmers posted 51s in the finale with USA's Randall Bal topping all-comers with a winning 51.34. France's Camille Lacourt took second overall in 51.41, while Russia's Arkady Vyatchanin (51.45) and USA's Peter Marshall (51.64) placed third and fourth. USA's David Russell (51.66) and Russia's Artem Dubovskoy (51.93) also cleared 52 seconds for fifth and sixth.

Germany's Stefan Herbst (52.78) and Norway's Lavrans Solli (53.96) also swam in the stacked finale.

Women's 50 back
Australia's Belinda Hocking took home the gold in 26.99, while Russia's Anastasia Zueva placed second in 27.41. Brazil's Fabiola Molina grabbed third in 27.50.

Ukraine's Daryna Zevina (27.60), Norway's Ingvild Snildal (27.70), Japan's Marie Kamimura (27.75), Germany's Deborah Gonschorek (27.77) and Germany's Jenny Mensing (28.14) rounded out the championship heat.

Men's 200 fly
Brazil's Frederico Castro touched out Poland's Pawel Korzeniowski, 1:53.65 to 1:53.71, for the victory. Russia's Nikolay Skvortsov claimed the other podium spot with a time of 1:55.16.

Russia's Maksim Ganikhin (1:55.71), Sweden's Simon Sjodin (1:56.31), Germany's Tim Wallburger (1:56.73), Colombia's Omar Pinzon (1:56.88) and Germany's Yannick Lebherz (1:57.87) placed fourth through eighth.

Women's 200 IM
USA's Julia Smit matched Emily Seebohm for the top spot in the world with a winning 2:07.64. Smit's time clipped Allison Wagner's U.S. record of 2:07.79 set back in 1993. Smit's been faster with an un-ratified techsuit swim of 2:04.60.

Hungary's Evelyn Verraszto touched second in 2:08.67, while USA's Jasmine Tosky picked up third in 2:09.69.

Germany's Theresa Michalak (2:10.47), Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry (2:11.41), Germany's Katharina Schiller (2:12.88), South Africa's Mandy Loots (2:13.38) and The Netherlands' Lieke Veronden (2:13.53) earned the rest of the finals finishes.

Men's 400 free
Germany's Paul Biedermann dominated the middle distance event with a time of 3:42.31. He improved to third in the world rankings behind Robert Hurley (3:41.58) and Patrick Murphy (3:42.02). Faroes' Pal Joensen took second in 3:44.45, while The Netherlands' Job Kienhuis earned third in 3:45.27.

Germany's Ben Starke (3:45.67), Russia's Alexander Shimin (3:46.71), Germany's Jan Wolfgarten (3:47.09), Japan's Junpei Higashi (3:48.01) and Germany's Joel Ax (3:50.83) completed the top eight.

Women's 50 free
The Netherlands' Hinkelien Schreuder earned the splash-and-dash title in 24.06, just missing her top-ranked effort of 23.98 set at the Singapore stop. Germany's Dorothea Brandt took second in 24.28, while World Cup points leader Therese Alshamar touched third in 24.38. Germany's Britta Steffen continued her comeback bid from a break with a fourth-place 24.53.

Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom (24.69), Germany's Daniela Schreiber (24.82), Australia's Angie Bainbridge (25.01) and Germany's Lisa Vitting (25.27) grabbed fifth through eighth.

Men's 200 breast
Russia's Grigory Falko nabbed the title in 2:06.73 to move to the top 15 in the world rankings. Australia's Craig Calder earned second in 2:07.55, while Germany's Marco Koch touched third in 2:08.15.

Luxembourg's Laurent Carnol placed fourth in 2:08.61, while Barbados' Bradley Ally turned in a fifth-place 2:10.79. Lithuania's Giedrius Titenis (2:11.91) and Igor Kozlovskij (2:13.4) finished sixth and seventh, while Canada's Andrew Poznikoff was disqualified.

Men's 100 IM
Germany's Markus Deibler upset World Cup points leader Thiago Pereira, 52.17 to 52.59, in the sprint medley. Deibler cleared Pereira's previously top-ranked time of 52.35 set at the Rio stop of the circuit, and just missed the German record of 52.11 set by Thomas Rupprath last year.

South Africa's Darian Townsend took third in 52.97, while Lithuania's Vytautas Janusaitis placed fourth in 54.32.

Russia's Vladislav Seryy (54.51), Japan's Kosuke Hagino (54.95), Colombia's Omar Pinzon (55.18) and Germany's Philip Heintz (55.32) also swam in the championship heat.

Women's 200 back
Australia's Belinda Hocking raced to victory in 2:03.99, just a bit off her top-ranked time of 2:03.47 set in July. Ukraine's Daryna Zevina touched second in 2:04.57, while USA's Julia Smit finished third in 2:05.11.

Russia's Mariya Gromova (2:06.24), Japan's Marie Kamimura (2:06.30), Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry (2:06.39), Germany's Jenny Mensing (2:06.45) and Hungary's Evelyn Verraszto (2:07.43) picked up fourth through eighth.

Men's 50 fly
South Africa's Roland Schoeman doubled up with a swift 22.39. That time clipped Steffen Deibler's previously top-ranked effort of 22.49 set in Rio. Deibler wound up taking second in 22.61, while Russia's Evgeny Korotyshkin placed third in 23.15.

Ukraine's Andrii Govorov (23.38), Germany's Johannes Dietrich (23.43), Poland's Konrad Czerniak (23.64), USA's William Copeland (23.72) and Russia's Vladislav Seryy (24.30) grabbed the rest of the championship heat swims.

Day One Finals Results

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