Britta Steffen Rips Off European Record in 100 Free at Magdeburg Championships; Rafed El-Masri Breaks 50 Free German Record

MAGDEBURG, Germany, July 19. BRITTA Steffen fired a huge salvo heading into the 2008 Beijing Games with a near 52-second time of 53.05 in the women's 100 free at the Magdeburg Championships.

Steffen took a chunk out of her previous European standard of 53.20 set in April and will be a force to be reckoned with in Beijing. Libby Trickett stands alone in front of her with the world record time of 52.88.

Steffen also clocked a time of 24.45 in the 50 free.

Additionally, Rafed El-Masri set the German record in the men's 50 free with a time of 21.86. That performance eclipsed the 22.11 swam by Steffen Deibler in April as well.

El-Masri is still awaiting his release from the Syrian Olympic Committee to begin competing internationally for Germany. Germany, however, recognizes his citizenship and his record.

Additional top times came from Antje Buschshulte (1:01.21, 100 back; 28.76, 50 back), Deibler (22.65, 50 free; 50.21, 100 free) and Anne Poleska (1:10.43, 100 breast). Poleska also stated that she is feeling no extra stress about Vipa Bernhardt's nomination to the Olympic roster, and that she spoke to the Federation about the issue today.

In other action, Annika Lurz posted a 4:13.89 in the 400 free, while Paul Biedermann finished in 3:53.64 in the 400 free and Helge Meeuw touched in 54.49 in the 100 back.

Special thanks to Stefan Lackner and Stephen Marcus for contributing to this report.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x