Sette Colli (Seven Hills): Alessia Filippi Sets Italian Record in 800 Free

ROME, Italy, June 7. THE Sette Colli (Seven Hills) meet continued to make its mark as the top meet of the weekend with some blazing fast times. Italy's Alessia Filippi blasted her women's 800 free Italian record for one of the top swims.

Sara Isakovic of Slovenia opened the second finals session with a victory in the women's 200 fly. She clocked a time of 2:07.05. The performance is among the top 10 in the world this year, behind Jessicah Schipper's 2:06.82. Poland's Otylia Jedrzejczak touched just behind with a time of 2:07.12, while Japan's Yuko Nakanishi finished third in 2:08.54.

Poland's Pawel Korzeniowski won the men's 200 fly in 1:56.37, while Niccolo Beni broke the Italian record with a second-place time of 1:56.99. That effort eclipsed the 1:57.57 set by Francesco Vespe in 2006. Great Britain's Michael Rock snared third in 1:58.09.

Emily Seebohm of Australia followed with a meet-record time of 1:00.10 in the women's 100 back. The time beat Louise Oernstedt's 1:01.14 set back in 2005. Japan's Hanae Ito touched just behind with a time of 1:00.14, also under the previous standard, while Great Britain's Elizabeth Simmonds placed third in 1:01.24.

Randall Bal of the United States blasted his meet record from 2007 when a winning effort of 53.70 in the men's 100 back. This cleared his former standard of 54.57, while tying him with Michael Phelps for the fourth-best in the world this year. Liam Tancock of Great Britain finished second in 54.37, while Tomomi Morita took third in 54.38.

World-record holder Stephanie Rice won the women's 400 IM going away with a time of 4:35.17, crushing Filippi's meet record of 4:37.03 set last year. Hannah Miley of Great Britain finished second in 4:37.60, while Kathryn Meaklim of South Africa took third in 4:40.98.

Italy's Alessio Boggiatto followed in the men's 400 IM with a time of 4:15.87, while Great Britain's Thomas Haffield (4:18.29) and Euan Dale (4:18.30) rounded out the top three.

Fran Halsall of Great Britain claimed the women's 100 free meet record with a time of 54.27. She eclipsed the 54.61 set by Dara Torres last year. Meanwhile, Sweden's Josefin Lillhage touched second in 54.97, while Great Britain's Caitlin McClatchey took third in 55.42

In the men's 200 free, Nicola Cassio led a 1-2-3-4 Italian performance in the men's 200 free with a time of 1:48.11. Matteo Pelliciari (1:48.57), Massi Rosolino (1:48.66) and Marco Belotti (1:48.74) rounded out the top four.

Leisel Jones then took a run at Jade Edmistone's world record of 30.31 in the women's 50 breast, but settled for a meet-record time of 30.82. That time broke Edmistone's meet record of 31.22 set in 2007. New Zealand's Zoe Baker touched second in 31.69, while Great Britain's Kate Haywood placed third in 32.14.

Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa won the men's sprint breast event in 27.90, while Great Britain's Christopher Cook touched out Mirko Gemo of Italy, 28.32 to 28.35, for second.

In the 800 free distance events, Italy's Filippi whacked three seconds from her national record with a winning time of 8:20.70. She broke her previous standard of 8:23.50 set in March, and destroyed Ai Shibata's meet record of 8:27.37 set in 2004. She improved her stature as the third-fastest swimmer in the event this year, behind Rebecca Adlington's 8:19.22 and Katie Hoff's 8:19.70 from April. Adlington wound up taking second in 8:27.60, while South Africa's Wendy Trott finished third in 8:28.77.

Poland then dominated the men's 800 free with a top-four sweep. Mateusz Sawrymowicz did battle with teammate Przemyslaw Stanczyk as the duo clocked times of 7:54.16 and 7:54.33. Pawel Korzeniowski (7:57.24) and Maciej Hreniak (8:02.50) each finished third and fourth as well.

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