European Schedule Suffers Storm Damage

BUDAPEST, Hungary, Aug. 1. ACCORDING to Craig Lord, a massive electrical storm washed out the European Championships at the conclusion of the men’s 200-meter IM on Tuesday in Budapest, Hungary. The thunderstorm pushed the women’s 200-meter backstroke final and the men’s 200-meter freestyle semifinal to Wednesday.

Men’s 50-meter Butterfly Finals
Ukrainian Sergiy Breus captured gold in 23.41 to post a meet record in the event. Breus erased Finland’s Jere Hard’s time of 23.50 set at the 2002 Berlin meet. Meanwhile, Croatian Duje Draganja pocketed silver in 23.62, while Denmark’s Jakob Andkjaer earned bronze in 23.77.

Women’s 100-meter Freestyle Semifinals
Coming off a world-record swim in the 400-meter freestyle relay last night, German Britta Steffen clocked the top qualifying time in a meet-record 54.21. That effort wiped away countrywomen Franziska Van Almsick’s previous standard of 54.39 set in 2002 at Berlin.

Men’s 100-meter Backstroke Finals
Another meet record went to the wayside as Russia’s Arkady Vyatchanin blazed to a 53.50 to snag gold. His time eclipsed his own standard of 53.91 set earlier in the meet. Additionally, Austrian Markus Rogan took silver in 54.07, while Greek Aristeidis Grigoriadis picked up bronze in 54.34.

"I trained a lot," Vyatchanin said. T"his my 1st European gold and also my personal best. I could not be happier."

"Vyatchanin was very fast," Rogan said. "I would never have reached him but I also set my personal best here. I know I am always second but 13 silver medals at the Worlds and Europeans is not too bad."

Women’s 50-meter Butterfly Finals
The Swedish contingent swept the top two medals as Therese Alshammar captured the crown in 26.06 and world-record holder Anna-Karin Kammerling snagged silver in 26.23. Meanwhile, Chantal Groot of the Netherlands rounded out the podium in 26.49.

Men’s 100-meter Breaststroke Finals
In one of the closest heats of the day, the first man to break a minute in the 100 breaststroke Roman Sludnov of Russia touched first in 1:00.61, while Norway’s Alexander Dale Oen came in just behind in 1:00.63. Ukrainian Oleg Lisogor clocked a bronze-winning time of 1:00.64. Overall, only .03 seconds separated the top three swimmers.

Women’s 100-meter Breaststroke Semifinals
Britain’s Kirsty Balfour raced to the top qualifying time of the morning with a 1:08.02. Meanwhile, Ukrainian Ganna Khlystunova touched just behind in 1:08.29.

Men’s 200-meter IM Semifinals
Hungarian Laszlo Cseh rode the momentum of a home event with the top-qualifying time of 2:00.79. Meanwhile, Italian Alessio Boggiatto clocked the second-best time of 2:01.01.

"I just wanted to make sure that I won my semis and I did not care about the time," Cseh said. "It was raining hard. This morning I swam very well and it felt good.I am a bit nervous in front the home crowd, everyone wants me to win but I think I will be fine by tomorrow. Hopefully it wont rain again so I will be able to swim a fast 200."

Norbert Agh contributed to this report

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