2007 World Swimming Cup, Stockholm: Audrey Lacroix Sets Canadian Record; Randall Bal Rolls; Yuliya Efimova Shines in Day Two

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, November 14. SWEDEN wraps up its hosting duties with the second night of swimming at the FINA World Cup stop in Stockholm.

The United States' Randall Bal maintained his dominant run in the World Cup series as he ran his backstroke success record to 15-0. He also continued to make a push towards the pot of gold at the end of the World Cup rainbow with a $100k prize going to the World Cup overall standings winner.

In other action, Canada's Audrey Lacroix set a Canadian record in the 200 fly with a scintillating readout of 2:04.53, just half-a-second off the world record. Meanwhile, Russian teenage sensation Yuliya Efimova completed a breaststroke sweep for her sixth title over the past two World Cup stops.

Men's 1500 freestyle
Korea's Tae Hwan Park dominated the men's 1500 free with the second-swiftest time in the world this year when he clocked a 14:36.42, far surpassing his previous best of 14:49.94 from the Sydney World Cup stop. He stands behind only Grant Hackett's 14:23.13 from the Australian Short Course Championships in August.

Park split times of 56.62, 1:55.99, 2:55.44, 3:54.82, 4:54.03, 5:52.03, 6:49.80, 7:47.50, 8:45.59, 9:43.71, 10:42.57, 11:40.71, 12:39.57 and 13:38.79 on the way to the win.

The real battle came for second as the United States' Robert Margalis and Denmark's Mads Glaesner went toe-to-toe for silver. Margalis came out just ahead with a time of 14:47.46, while Glaesner touched in 14:47.68.

They were followed by a Korean duo, with the popular surname of Park. Young Ho finished fourth in 15:22.80, while Chan Hee took fifth in 15:33.87.

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Women's 100 freestyle
The Netherlands swept the top-two spots in the women's 100 free as Marleen Veldhuis clocked a quick 52.30, now the second-fastest time this year behind only Libby Lenton's 51.83 set at the Australian Short Course Championships in August.

Meanwhile, teammate Inge Dekker picked up silver in 53.34, shaving .04 seconds from her season-best time of 53.38 recorded last month. Sweden's Josefin Lillhage rounded out the podium with a third-place time of 53.60, just a tad shy of her season-best performance of 53.53 set at the Durban stop.

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Men's 200 freestyle
Demonstrating some incredible endurance, Tae Hwan Park returned just minutes after posting a sensational men's 1500 free time to emerge victorious in the men's 200 free with a top time of 1:43.87 – only a half-a-second off his season-best time of 1:43.38 set at the Sydney stop. Not bad, winning back-to-back golds, after having just swum a strong distance event.

Germany's Paul Biedermann won a close race for second with a winning time of 1:45.39, while Australia's Nicholas Sprenger settled for bronze in 1:45.94. Sprenger's time came up short of his season-best time of 1:44.93 set at the Aussie Short Course Champs in August.

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Women's 50 breaststroke
Russian teenager Yuliya Efimova has just been on fire in her two stops on the World Cup circuit. With a win in the 50 breast, she is now five-for-five in breaststroke events since Moscow and dropped the sprint breast Russian record to a 30.42 after first setting it with a 30.80 in Moscow. Efimova also moved into the top three in the world in the event this year with only Leisel Jones (30.03) and Jade Edmistone (30.04) in front of her.

New Zealand's Zoe Baker captured second in 30.70, which is a top five effort this year, while Germany's Janne Schaefer joined her after touching just behind in 30.71.

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Men's 100 breaststroke
The Netherlands' Robin van Aggele surfaced from a hotly-contested final to win the men's 100 breast in 59.14. The top seven spots all finished in the 59s as Russia's Sergey Geybel took second in 59.21 and Norway's Alexander Dale Oen placed third in 59.42.

Russia's Grigory Falko (59.48), Ukraine's Oleg Lisogor (59.56), Lithuania's Edvinas Dautartas (59.70) and France's Hugues Duboscq (59.94) each finished under 1:00 to touched fourth through seventh.

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Women's 400 IM
South Africa's Jessica Pengelly touched first in the women's longer distance medley with a time of 4:38:27 to win the event. She posted splits of 1:04.93, 2:12.10 and 3:32.29 on the way to victory. She finished off her season best, however, as she'd turned in a 4:37.41 at the South African Short Course Championships in October.

Germany's Theresa Michalak took second place in 4:41.29, while Sweden gave the home crowd something to cheer for as a Swedish trio finished third through fifth (Sara Thyden – 4:42.34, Stina Gardell – 4:43.61, Ida Sandin – 4:45.13).

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Men's 100 butterfly
Australia's Andrew Lauterstein cruised to victory in the men's 100 fly when he clocked a top time of 51.60. The effort, however, came up short of his fastest time in the world this year of 50.85 set at the Aussie Short Course Championships in August.

New Zealand's Moss Burmester wound up placing second in 52.45, while Ukraine's Sergiy Breus completed the top three in 52.65.

There wasn't much doubt that Lauterstein would win as he took the race out in 24.02 and held on with a back half 27.54. The only faster back half came from Burmester in 27.54.

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Women's 100 backstroke
Brazil's Fabiola Molina moved into the top 10 in the world this year with a readout of 58.98 to move ahead of Ukraine's Iryna Amshennikova (59.17) as the eighth-best swimmer this year.

Amshennikova, meanwhile, wound up in second place with a time of 59.34, while Germany's Daniela Samulski took third in 59.36. Samulski cut her season-best time of 59.53 set at a meet in Essen, Germany.

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Men's 50 backstroke
Make it 14 out of 14 for the United States' Randall Bal in backstroke events at the World Cup. After winning his 13th backstroke title yesterday in the 100, he came back to claim the sprint back in 23.49, just .1 seconds off the American record of 23.39 set by Peter Marshall in Feb. 2006. The 23.49 also came up just short of his season-best and top time in the world this year of 23.42 set at the Sydney stop.

South Africa's Gerhard Zandberg, who is a busy man during the Stockholm stop, claimed second place in 23.67 to move into second in the world this year. He moved ahead of world-record holder Thomas Rupprath's 23.88 as he cut time from his 24.16 at the Durban stop.

Slovakia's Lubos Krizko ended up with a third-place time of 24.34 to finish out the top three performances.

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Women's 200 butterfly
Canada's Audrey Lacroix tore through the women's 200 butterfly event with the fastest time in the world this year when she clocked a blistering time of 2:04.53. That performance put her ahead of Australia's Felicity Galvez' time of 2:04.74 set at the Aussie Short Course Championships in August. The swim also knocked a chunk off her Canadian record in the 200 fly of 2:06.90 set in 2004. Lacroix stood under world-record pace most of the race, but finished short of the 2:04.04 set by China's Yu Yang in Jan. of 2004.

Meanwhile, Poland's Otylia Jedrzejczak cut more than a second off her season-best time of 2:06.92 to sit third in the world this year with a time of 2:05.39. China's Jiao Liu Yang closed out the top three with the fourth-quickest readout this year of 2:05.71.

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Men's 200 IM
Brazil's Thiago Pereira gave his country its second gold medal of the day with a world-class readout of 1:55.08 in the men's 200 IM. He became just the second man under 1:56 this year behind only Australia's Leith Brodie, who posted the swiftest time this year of 1:54.66 at the Australian Short Course Championships in August.

New Zealand's Dean Kent finished just shy of his season-best time of 1:57.43 from the Sydney World Cup stop when he claimed second place in 1:57.57. Meanwhile, Lithuania's Vytautas Janusaitis jumped into the top 10 in the world this year with a 1:58.19 effort for third place.

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Women's 400 freestyle
Denmark's Lotte Friis must like the Stockholm venue as she added the women's 400 freestyle crown to her win in the 800 free to start off yesterday's session.

Friis completed the middle distance event in a time of 4:03.71 for gold, a bit off her season-best time of 4:03.47 set at the Denmark Short Course Championships in October.

Sweden's Josefin Lillhage cut her season-best time of 4:06.03 with a second-place time of 4:05.96, while Russia's Daria Belyakina held off Sweden's Ida Marko-Varga for third place, 4:06.21 to 4:06.22.

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Men's 50 freestyle
Sweden's Stefen Nystrand redeemed himself after he lost a world record in Moscow due to a disqualification when he won the splash-and-dash in a sterling time of 21.14 – the fastest time in the world this year by far as Australia's Eamon Sullivan previously owned that mark with a 21.31 at the Moscow stop. His performance came up just short of the World Cup mark of 21.13 set by Great Britain's Mark Foster in Paris in 2001.

Sullivan, meanwhile, placed second in a time of 21.35, just off his mark from Moscow, while South Africa's Gerhard Zandberg captured the bronze in 21.62.

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Women's 200 breaststroke
Russia's Yuliya Efimova made it six in a row in the breaststroke as she emerges as an Olympic contender in the stroke. Efimova dropped a time of 2:21.41 to win the event and move into second in the world this year behind only Leisel Jones (2:18.93).

Efimova posted a commanding lead over China's Sun Ye, who placed second in 2:23.10 to move into the top five in the world this year, while Poland's Iwona Predecka comprised the rest of the top three with a time of 2:26.12.

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Women's 100 IM
France's Sophie de Ronchi used a strong back half in the sprint medley as she won in 1:00.81. After the backstroke, de Ronchi trailed five swimmers with a 28.48 split at the halfway mark. She, however, made up that time with a 32.33 coming down the stretch. She moved into fourth in the world this year with the swim as only Natalie Coughlin (59.12), Shayne Reese (1:00.62) and Hanna Seppala (1:00.73) stand ahead of her.

Slovakia's Martina Moravoca took second in 1:01.46, while South Africa's Mandy Loots finished third in 1:01.57.

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Men's 200 backstroke
Randall kept rolling along as Bal of the United States went 15-for-15 in the backstroke events in the World Cup circuit with a triumph in the 200-meter distance.

This time, the World Cup standings leader continued to march towards a $100k payday with a time of 1:51.85, just off his top time in the world this year of a 1:51.78 set at the Sydney stop.

Meanwhile, Russia's Arkady Vyatchanin touched in second place with a 1:53.27, improving on his season-best effort of 1:54.20 also set at the Sydney stop. The United States grabbed a 1-3 finish in the event as Hongzhe Sun clocked a 1:53.61 to move into the top five in the world this year.

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Women's 50 butterfly
Sweden's Therese Alshammar most likely overtook the United States' Natalie Coughlin in the World Cup standings race for the $100k pot with the fastest-time in the world this year off 25.54. She just pipped Libby Lenton's effort of 25.56 set at the Sydney stop this year.

World-record holder Anna-Karin Kammerling, who's global standard is a 25.33 from March 2005, snared silver with a time of 25.77 to improve upon her season-best readout of 26.00 set at the Durban stop.

Meanwhile, the Netherlands' Inge Dekker grabbed third place in 25.89, short of her season-best time of 25.72 from last month.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

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