European Championships: Second Day Recap, Results; Cavic Lowers 50 Fly European Record; Men’s 100 Breast 1:00 Adds Two Members

EINDHOVEN, Netherlands, March 19. AFTER an initial day of swimming featured a world record in the women's 400 freestyle relay, fans were in for a treat during the second day of competition at the European Championships held in Eindhoven.

A pair of European records fell during the session. First, Serbia's Milorad Cavic scared the men's 50 fly world record before Alexander Dale Oen of Norway and France's Hugues Duboscq pushed the sub-1:00 club to five members in the men's 100 breast.

Men's 50 fly finals
So close, and yet so far away! While Serbia's Milorad Cavic improved upon his European record time of 23.25 from yesterday, he could not join South Africa's Roland Schoeman under the 23-second barrier today. However, with his blistering time of 23.11, Cavic did surpass Ian Crocker of the United States as the second-fastest swimmer ever in the event. Schoeman owns the global standard with a 22.96 from the 2005 World Championships, while Crocker's 23.12 came at the same event. Cavic's time also stands as the third-best ever as Schoeman also has a 23.01 on his resume.

Ukraine's Sergiy Breus missed his national record by a small margin with a time of 23.48 for silver. He'd previously set the record with a 23.38 in 2005. Meanwhile, Spain's Rafael Munoz Perez chopped some time from his national record set yesterday with a 23.76 as he claimed bronze in 23.60.

Women's 100 free semis
The Netherlands, fresh of an astonishing 400 free relay world record yesterday, claimed the top two spots in the women's 100 free finals as Marleen Veldhuis ripped off a top qualifying time of 53.67, just off her national record of 53.58 from 2007. Veldhuis was under world-record pace at the 50 with a 25.74. She was joined by teammate Inge Dekker, who blasted a second-place time of 53.67.

Finland's Hanna-Maria Seppala took the third qualifying spot with a 54.34, while Sweden's Josefin Lillhage finished fourth in 54.85.

The rest of the top eight spots went to Slovenia's Sara Isakovic (54.86), Belarus' Aliaksandra Herasimenia (54.96), Sweden's Therese Alshammar (54.96) and France's Aurore Mongel (55.39).

Isakovic became the first Slovenian under 55 as she lowered her national record of 55.10 set during prelims.

Men's 100 back finals
Austria's Markus Rogan used a strong backhalf of the race to get his hand to the wall first in 54.03. After turning way back in eighth at the 50 with a 26.88, he stormed back with a 27.15 final 50 to capture the gold.

Greece's Aristeidis Grigoriadis, who turned first in 26.11, wound up with silver after he hit the pads in 54.27. That performance dropped his own national record from yesterday of 54.33.

Russia's Arkady Vyatchanin, the meet-record holder, snatched bronze with a time of 54.45.

Women's 50 fly finals
The Netherlands continued to enjoy home-pool mojo as the country snared gold and silver in the women's sprint fly event. Chantal Groot had too much for the field as she sprinted to victory in a time of 26.03. The time is easily the fastest in the world this year as heading into this meet, Fran Halsall had the top time with a 26.83.

Meanwhile, Inge Dekker, just offer her second-place qualifier in the 100 free, grabbed silver in a time of 26.30.

Belarus' Sviatlana Khakhlova nipped her national record with a bronze-winning 26.52. She set the previous record yesterday with a 26.59 in earlier action.

Men's 100 breast finals
The 1:00 club just got a whole lot deeper at both Alexander Dale Oen of Norway and France's Hugues Duboscq rocketed right through it in an exciting swim to the enjoyment of the crowd.

Dale Oen, who had cracked his national record earlier with a 1:00.11 in prelims, touched out Duboscq, 59.76 to 59.78, as the duo became the third and fourth fastest swimmers ever in the event.

Dale Oen took the race out quick with a 28.17, while coming home in 31.59. Duboscq, meanwhile, touched second at the turn with a 28.32 before coming home in 31.46.

While Brendan Hansen of the United States owns the world record with a 59.13 and Kosuke Kitajima of Japan is second with a 59.53, both Dale Oen and Duboscq cleared Roman Sludnov's European standard of 59.94 to push the sub-1:00 club to five members.

Incidentally, Duboscq had previously owned the France national record with a 1:00.05 from 2005.

Joining the dynamic duo on the podium with a bronze-winning effort was Ukraine's Oleg Lisogor, who placed third in 1:00.53.

Women's 100 breast semis
Austria's Mirna Jukic cleared 1:08 to take lane four in finals as she clocked a 1:07.98 in semis. That proved to be a lifetime best for the national-record holder as she lowered her standard from 1:08.13 set during prelims.

Russia's Alena Alekseeva placed second in qualifying with a time of 1:08.95, while Sweden's Hanna Westrin touched just behind with a third-place 1:08.97. Westrin's teammate Joline Hoestman finished fourth in 1:09.05, while Belgium's Elise Matthysen placed fifth in 1:09.26.

Other qualifiers included Russia's Elena Bogomazova (1:09.28), Ukraine's Yuliya Pidlisna (1:09.33) and France's Sophie De Ronchi (1:09.52).

Men's 200 IM semis
Hungary's Laszlo Cseh doesn't want the swimming world to forget about him as Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte continue to throw down impressive times. During semis, Cseh cleared his meet record of 1:58.17 from 2006 when he dropped a 1:57.90 to claim the top seed heading into finals. That performance stands second in the world this year behind Phelps' 1:57.39 from earlier this month.

In other action, Vytautas Janusaitis of Lithuania finished second in 2:00.77, while Italy's Alessio Boggiatto finished third in 2:00.93.

Other championships finalists will include Austria's Dinko Jukic (2:01.38), Portugal's Diogo Filipe Carvalho (2:01.49), Poland's Lukasz Wojt (2:02.11), Russia's Alexander Tikhonov (2:02.16) and Croatia's Sasa Impric (2:02.35).

Notably, Impric lowered his national record of 2:02.52 set in 2007.

Women's 200 back finals
France's Laure Manaudou completed a full renovation of her country's national record in the event over two days. After clearing it with a 2:09.23 in semis, she jumped right through 2:08 and lodged a time of 2:07.99. That performance put her into fifth all time in the event behind Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry (2:06.39), Hungary's Krisztina Egerszegi (2:06.62), the United States' Margaret Hoelzer (2:07.16) and China's He Cihong (2:07.40).

After turning third at the 50 with a 30.69, Manaudou led the rest of the way with a 1:02.88 at the 100 and a 1:35.83 at the 150 before sprinting home in 32.16.

Meanwhile, Anastasia Zueva of Russia finished second in 2:09.59 to set a national record in the event. The previous standard had been a 2:09.62 from the 2004 Athens Games by Stanislava Komarova.

Hungary's Nikolett Szepesi rounded out the top three with a bronze-winning 2:09.90.

Also of note, meet organizers still had Coventry representing the United States on the meet results form.

Men's 200 free semis
With Pieter van den Hoogenband out of the event due to illness, the crowd still had some strong times to cheer on. Germany's Paul Biedermann picked up the top seed when he hit the wall in 1:47.57, just off the legendary's Michael Gross' national record of 1:47.44 set at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

Emiliano Brembilla of Italy qualified second with a time of 1:47.82, while France's Amaury Leveaux placed third in 1:47.89. Leveaux's time eclipsed his national record of 1:48.10 set in 2006 as he became the first Frenchman under 1:48.

Massi Rosolino of Italy rounded out the sub-1:48 men with a fourth-place 1:47.97.

The outside lanes will be filled by Russia's Alexander Sukhorukov (1:48.39), Poland's Lukasz Gasior (1:48.52), Latvia's Romans Miloslavskis (1:48.55) and Russia's Nikita Lobintsev (1:48.68).

Incidentally, Miloslavskis dropped his national record of 1:49.19 set in 2005.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

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