Maria Lenk Trophy: Cesar Cielo and Jeanette Ottesen Set Textile Bests; Felipe Silva Breaks 1:00 Barrier Twice in 100 Breast

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, April 26. THE third day of competition at the Maria Lenk Trophy long course meet, also serving as an Olympic qualifying meet for Brazil, saw another world-leading time by Cesar Cielo in the 50 butterfly, a barrier buster by Felipe Silva and an exciting race in the men's 200 backstroke.

Women's 200 backstroke
France's Laure Manaudou, who will compete in this event in the London Olympics, won the final in 2:11.77. She made the team with a 2:08.06 at the French Olympic Trials. Carolina Henao was second in 2:16.12, while Rebeca Bretanha placed third with a 2:18.35.

Men's 200 backstroke
Leonardo de Deus touched out Thiago Pereira in the final by the slimmest of margins in the final, 1:57.38 to 1:57.39. De Deus moves to sixth in the 2012 world rankings, while Pereira is tied for seventh with Zhang Fenglin. The swim marks a lifetime best for De Deus, and just missed Pereira's national record of 1:57.19 from last year's Pan-American Games. Leonardo Santos took third in 1:59.36 after posting a 1:58.86 in prelims.

Women's 50 butterfly
Denmark's Jeanette Ottesen added a third meet title with a win in the non-Olympic sprint butterfly with a 25.29, eclipsing Therese Alshammar's world textile best of 25.37 from last year. She put herself at the top of the world rankings in prelims with a 25.68, and improved on that in finals. Inge Dekker of the Netherlands had the top spot previously with a 25.90. Daynara Paula earned silver with a 26.26, and Daniele de Jesus placed third in 26.57.

Men's 50 butterfly
The top four times in tonight's final are now the four fastest swum in 2012. Cesar Cielo, the 2011 world champion in this event, won with a 22.76, keeping him at the top of the world rankings, and improving on the 23.26 he swam at last month's South American Games. It is also a world textile best, faster than the 22.96 swum by Roland Schoeman at the 2005 world championships, and much faster than the 23.10 Cielo swam to win the world title. Dos Santos's time of 22.79 also eclipsed the world textile best and gives Brazil the top two times in the world — and the only two under 23 seconds. Fred Bousquet of France placed third in the race with a 23.02, putting himself third in the world. Henrique Silva's fourth-place time of 23.19 makes him fourth in the world.

Women's 100 breaststroke
Ana Carvalho won the race in 1:10.53, just ahead of Pamela Souza's 1:10.75. Juliana Marin placed third with a 1:11.36.

Men's 100 breaststroke
After swimming a 59.63 in prelims, Felipe Silva won the final in 59.83. Silva's prelim time puts him third in the world behind Japan's Kosuke Kitajima (58.90) and Ryo Tateishi (59.60). Five swimmers have broken the 1:00 barrier so far in 2012. With the Olympic qualifying time of 1:00.79 looming, Henrique Barbosa, already qualified for London in the 200 breast, almost added the sprint breast to his program with a second-place time of 1:00.38, but was not faster than Felipe Lima's 1:00.11 from prelims. Joao Gomes placed third in tonight's race with a 1:00.54.

Lima fell to fourth place in the final with a time of 1:00.62. Tales Cerdeira, who qualified for the Olympics Monday in the 200 breast, was fifth with a 1:00.97.

Women's 800 freestyle
Lotte Friis, the reigning long course world runner-up in this event, won tonight with an 8:26.98, moving her up to sixth in the world and improving on her best of the year, an 8:27.93 swum in Belgium in January. Mireia Belmonte, a short course world runner-up in the 800, placed second with an 8:31.80, and Cecelia Biagioli was third in 8:33.17.

Women's 400 freestyle relay
Pinheiros won the relay in 3:44.25, ahead of Flamengo's 3:46.84. Corinthians took third in 3:47.31.

Men's 400 freestyle relay
Flamengo took the men's relay in 3:17.59 over Pinheiros' second-place time of 3:19.17. Corinthians was third with a 3:20.19.

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