2007 World Swimming Cup, Moscow: Eamon Sullivan Sets Australian Record; Russian Teenager Yuliya Efimova Showcases Talent

MOSCOW, Russia, November 10. WITH the FINA World Cup series now past its halfway mark, Russia hosted its final night of swimming competition in the circuit.

Eamon Sullivan scorched the men's 50 freestyle with a time of 21.31 to eclipse his Australian record, while Russian teenager Yuliya Efimova used the energy of the hometown crowd to turn in some strong performances.

Meanwhile, the United States' Randall Bal added to his World Cup standings lead, while Sweden's Therese Alshammar looked to cut into the United States' Natalie Coughlin's lead on the women's side with Coughlin on hiatus from the circuit until the final stop in Belo Horizonte.

Men's 1500 freestyle
Poland made an immediate mark on the second night of swimming with a podium sweep of the men's distance freestyle. Mateusz Sawrymowicz and Przemyslaw Stanczuk clocked the second and fourth-fastest times in the world so far this year behind Grant Hackett's 14:23.13 set at the Australian Short Course Championships in August. Additionally, Yuri Prilukov clocked in at 14:39.91 during the Russian Cup in Volgograd last week for the third-quickest time.

Sawrymowicz went out fast and never really had much to worry about as he clocked a 14:37.28 with splits of 57.18, 1:56.28, 2:55.12, 3:54.38, 4:53.22, 5:51.83, 6:50.25, 7:48.72, 8:47.05, 9:45.28, 10:43.73, 11:42.60, 12:40.13 and 13:38.88 along the way.

Stanczuk, meanwhile, placed second in 14:44.35, while compatriot Maclei Hreniak completely the Polish sweep with a time of 14:48.96. The top swimmer hailing from outside of Poland came in the form of Ukrainian Sergiy Fesenko, who placed fourth in 15:04.06.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Women's 100 freestyle
Sweden's Josefin Lillhage came close to her season-best time of 53.53 set at the Durban stop, but not quite with a winning time of 53.66 in the women's 100 free.

Meanwhile, Martina Moravcova of Slovakia grabbed second place in 54.08, while Brazil's Tatiana Lemos-Barbosa gave her country its second medal of the meet with a third-place 55.01. Russia's Olga Klyuchnikova just missed the podium with a time of 55.04.

Lillhage boasted the only sub-26 first 50 with a 25.91, then came home in 27.75 with Moravcova closing fast with a 27.87 final 50.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 200 freestyle
A top trio of swimmers gave the crowd an exciting finish in the men's 200 free as Latvian Romans Miloslavskis touched out Russians Sergey Perunin and Alexander Sukhorukov at the finish.

Miloslavskis captured the title with a time of 1:45.77, with splits of 25.33, 51.88 and 1:18.87, while Perunin settled for second with a time of 1:45.79, with splits of 25.53, 52.68 and 1:19.38. Sukhorukov, meanwhile, picked up third place in 1:45.92, with splits of 25.13, 52.01 and 1:19.14.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Women's 50 breaststroke
Yulia Efimova led an all-Russian championship final with a top time of 30.80 in the sprint breast event. Her performance put her fourth in the world so far this year behind only Jade Edmistone (30.04), Leisel Jones (30.11) and Sarah Katsoulis (30.62).

Her teammates, Ekaterina Kormacheva and Anastasij Zjablova completed the podium with times of 31.83 and 32.00, respectively.

Efimova, who is 15 years old, claimed a pair of European Junior Championships this past summer. Efimova's time of 30.80 eclipsed the previous Russian record of 30.88 set by Elena Bogomazova in 2005.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 100 breaststroke
Russia's Grigory Falko joined the sub-minute club this season as only Brenton Rickard (58.75), Robin van Aggele (58.89), Christian Sprenger (59.06) and Alexander Dale Oen (59.53) own faster times this year than Falko's 59.70 to win the event.

Meanwhile, Russia's Sergey Geybel took second in 1:00.41, while teammate Dmitry Komornikov rounded out the top three in 1:00.54 in a Russian-laden final with only one international swimmer making his way to the final. South Africa's Thabang Moeketsane took eighth in 1:01.59.

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Women's 400 IM
Poland's Katarzyna Baranowska joined the top swimmers in the world this year as she clocked the second-swiftest readout of the year thus far. She touched in a time of 4:32.63, just behind Stephanie Rice's top effort of 4:32.48 set at the Australian Short Course Championships in August.

South Africa's Jessica Pengelly finished a bit off her season-best clocking of 4:37.41 set at the South Africa Short Course Championships in October when she placed second in 4:38.27. Russian Yana Martynova, however, also clocked a world top 10 time this year with a 4:38.46, standing behind Samantha Hamill's 4:37.76.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 100 butterfly
After wowing the crowd during the first night with a near-world record swim in the 200 fly and another victory in the 50 fly, Russian Nikolay Skvortsov made it a clean sweep with a triumph in the 100 fly. This time he clocked a 50.97, which stands behind only Andrew Lauterstein's 50.85 set at the Australian Short Course Championships in August as the quickest time this year.

Skvortsov's teammate Evgeny Korotyshkin placed second in 51.39, improving upon his previous season-best effort of 52.30 set at the Singapore stop. Meanwhile, Lauterstein checked in with a third-place 51.61.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Women's 100 backstroke
Without World Cup series leader Natalie Coughlin participating, the women's 100 back seemed a bit empty, what with her world record time of 56.51 in Singapore.

Ukraine's Iryna Amshennikova claimed the title in 59.17, while Australia's Karina Leane took second in 59.74 and Russia's Anastasia Zueva finished third in 59.84 as the lone sub-minute efforts of the evening.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 50 backstroke
After shortly tying the American record of 23.42 previously held by Neil Walker before finding out that Peter Marshall actually held the standard with a 23.39 set in Feb. 2006, Randall Bal still came back with a strong time of 23.50 to add to his World Cup standings lead.

Meanwhile, South Africa's Gerhard Zandberg took second place with a time of 24.21, while Russia's Stanislav Donets took third in 24.40.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Women's 200 butterfly
Poland's Otylia Jedrzejczak cut a chunk of time off her season-best readout of 2:08.83 set last month with a top time of 2:06.92 to win the 200 fly. Her clocking stands only behind Felicity Galvez's 2:04.74 this year after Galvez posted the time at the Australian Short Course Championships in August.

South Africa's Mandy Loots turned in a second-place effort of 2:07.78, just off her season-best effort of 2:07.14 set at the Durban stop, while Ukraine's Tetyana Khala placed a distant third in 2:12.43.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 200 IM
Russia's Alexander Tichonov used a strong breaststroke leg to capture the men's 200 IM with a time of 1:58.93. He posted splits of 26.56, 56.63 and 1:30.44 along the way, while second-place finisher Pawel Korzeniowski of Poland took second in 1:59.14 with splits of 26.28, 57.61 and 1:32.74.

Russia's Dmitri Kalenov rounded out the top three with a 2:00.25 as he split 25.43, 55.96 and 1:31.62. Kalenov could not withstand the breaststroke leg of Tichonov, even after building a lead through the first half of the race.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Women's 400 freestyle
Germany's Petra Dallmann hit the wall first in the women's middle distance event when she clocked a 4:09.91. Meanwhile, Russia picked up the rest of the medals on offer as Elena Sokolova took second in 4:10.44 and Larisa Ilchenko placed third in 4:10.52.

Ilchenko must have felt she was in a sprint event, as she is an open water star who typically competes at the 10K distance or above. This past World Championships, Ilchenko claimed a pair of world titles in the 5K and 10K events. Overall, she has won six world titles in open water and is a favorite for gold in the inaugural 10K swim at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 50 freestyle
Australia's Eamon Sullivan took a run at the World Cup record of 21.13 set by Mark Foster of Great Britain in Paris in 2001, but came up short with a time of 21.31. The performance, however, did improve upon Sullivan's previous best time of 21.46 set at the Australian Grand Prix in July, which also stands as the Australian national record.

South Africa's Gerhard Zandberg wound up second with a time of 21.88, while Brazil's Fernando Silva pocketed bronze in 22.28. Notably, Sweden's Stefan Nystrand was disqualified in the race.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Women's 200 breaststroke
Russian teenage Yuliya Efimova continued to shine, this time with a win in the 200 breast after claiming the sprint event earlier in the evening. Efimova touched in 2:25.08, which puts her in the top 10 this year. Leisel Jones (2:18.93), Suzaan van Biljon (2:22.45), Sally Foster (2:23.00), Sarah Katsoulis (2:23.25) and Megan Jendrick (2:24.81) are the only swimmers ahead of her in the rankings this year.

Teammate Olga Detenyuk snared silver with a time of 2:26.49, while Poland's Iwona Predecka took third in 2:26.65.

Efimova led throughout with splits of 34.08, 1:11.32 and 1:48.27.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Women's 100 IM
In another event recently dominated by Natalie Coughlin during the World Cup series, Poland's Aleksandra Urbanczyk claimed the title in the sprint medley with a time of 1:01.12. Only Coughlin (59.12) and Shayne Reese (1:00.62) own fastest times this year than Urbanczyk quick effort.

Meanwhile, Russians Olga Klyuchnikova and Daria Belyakina completed the rest of the podium with times of 1:01.99 and 1:02.19, respectively. Klyuchnikova joined just eight other swimmers under 1:02 this year.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 200 backstroke
Randall Bal added another layer to his World Cup leading efforts when he swept the backstroke events with a 1:52.39 in the longer distance. That performance cut half-a-second off his previous best this season of 1:52.88 set at the Singapore stop and put him only behind Matt Welsh's 1:52.27 set at the Australian Short Course Championships in August. Bal is on pace to cut a big check at the end of the World Cup series worth $100k.

Meanwhile, Russians Arkady Vyatchanin (1:54.25) and Alexander Tarabrin (1:54.81) completed the top three with quick times of their own. Vyatchanin shaved a bit off his previous season-best effort of 1:54.46 set in Singapore, while Tarabrin jumped into the top 10 in the world this year.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Women's 50 butterfly
With World Cup leader Natalie Coughlin on a hiatus from the circuit until the final stop, Sweden's Therese Alshammar will continue to cut into Coughlin's big lead as she currently stands second with 40 points, behind Coughlin's 70 points.

Alshammar stopped the clock in 25.88 to say "Do svidanja" to Moscow with the final event during the stop. Alshammar's time came up short of her previous season-best time of 25.64 from the Durban stop, but was enough to top Slovakia's Martina Moravcova (26.71) and Poland's Aleksandra Urbanczyk (26.91).

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Special thanks to Federico Ferraro for contributing to this report.

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