Lyon International: Razvan Florea Lowers Romanian Record

LYON, France, February 14. DURING the first set of finals at the long course Lyon International meet held in France, Romania's Razvan Florea dropped his national record in the men's 50 back.

Florea cleared Jeremy Stravius' preliminary meet record of 26.03 with a winning effort of 25.62 in the men's 50 back. Stravius gave him all he could handle with a second-place 25.95. Florent Manaudou finished third in 26.18. Florea's clocking wiped out his national record of 25.76 set in June of last year.

Marleen Veldhuis threatened her Netherlands record of 53.58 in the women's 100 free with a sterling time of 54.04 to win the event in a meet record. She had a pair of swimmers bracketing her with Ranomi Kromowidjojo (54.89) and Inge Dekker (54.93) finishing second and third.

Italy's Alice Parisi posted a meet record in the women's 50 back with a time of 29.15. That performance eclipsed the 29.17 set by Kromowidjojo during prelims. Kromowidjojo finished third in 29.50 with Valentina De Nardi taking second in 29.21.

Romain Sassot started the evening off with a victory in the men's 100 fly with a time of 54.30. He touched out Andrew Mayor, who placed second in 54.38. Fabio Cantavenna finished third in 54.61. Emanuela Albenzi dominated the women's 200 fly in 2:12.28, while Joanne Andraca took second in 2:16.26. Beatrice Fassone claimed third in 2:18.18.

Sharon Van Rouwendaal earned the women's 400 free crown in 4:15.14, while Martina De Memme touched second in 4:16.35. Silvia Floria rounded out the top three in 4:17.50. Additionally, Jeremy Stravius crushed the competition in the men's 200 back with a time of 2:03.46. Anthony Pannier finished second in 2:06.56, while Christoph Borek took third in 2:08.54.

De Nardi followed in the women's 100 back with a winning time of 1:03.15. Sarah Rolko claimed second in 1:03.31, while Veronica Neri snagged third in 1:04.62. Federico Franciolini then touched out Loris Facci, 1:03.03 to 1:03.33, in the men's 100 breast. Christophe Richard finished third in 1:04.35.

In the women's 200 breast, Chiarra Boggiatto dominated the event with a time of 2:28.68. Sara El Bekri placed second in 2:32.58, while Adele Bolla took third in 2:34.24. Stravius returned to claim his second crown of the day when he hit the wall in 1:49.94 in the men's 200 free. Riccardo De Lucia touched second in 1:51.86, while Federico Cappellazzo grabbed third in 1:53.24.

Anthony Pannier took home the men's 400 IM title in 4:26.97, while Raoul Shaw (4:27.74) and Lucas Husing (4:34.37) rounded out the top three. Giorgia Gramillano snatched the women's 200 IM title in 2:18.35, while Fanny LeCluyse placed second in 2:19.77. Van Rouwendaal picked up third in 2:22.19.

In the sprint events, Fabio Cantavenna pocketed the men's 50 fly title in 24.72. Andrew Mayor touched second in 24.88, while Sassot took third in 25.11. After Veldhuis charted a 25.62 during prelims of the women's 50 fly, she elected to scratch finals. Inge Dekker won the title in 26.33, while Silvia Di Pietro took second in 27.16. Melanie Henique placed third in 27.46.

Ricardo Bartoli earned the men's 50 breast title in 28.30, while Alessandro Spoleti (28.63) and Federico Franciolini (29.16) placed second and third. Boggiatto won her second event of the day with a time of 32.13 in the women's 50 breast. Andrea Baudry (32.32) and El Bekri (33.17) completed the top three.

Vittorio Dinia touched out Stravius and Manaudou by the slimmest of margins, 23.30 to 23.31, as Stravius and Manaudou tied for second in the men's 50 free. Meanwhile, Veldhuis took a run at her Netherlands record in the women's 50 free of 24.09 set in December of 2008, but came up short with a 24.31. That performance smashed the meet record of 25.61 set by Inge Dekker during prelims. Dekker finished second in 25.45, while Italy's Di Pietro took third in 26.39.

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