ESSEN, Germany, November 25. AFTER several days of top-flight swimming at the German Short Course Championships in Essen, Germany, the meet concluded with one European record and several other national records in hand.
Janine Pietsch set a European record in the women's 50 back with a top time of 26.92. That performance eclipsed the 26.94 set by compatriot Antje Buschschulte at the Berlin World Cup stop just a week ago.
Meanwhile, Steffen Deibler and Britta Steffen shined with a handful of German records to their credit. Deibler first set the 100 free record with a time of 47.24 in prelims to clip Jens Schreiber's 47.38 from 2005. Deibler returned in finals to drop the time even lower with a time of 47.23. Deibler also pipped his own 50 free record of 21.54 from Trieste in 2005 with a preliminary effort of 21.42.
Steffen on the other hand dropped a trio of national records. First, she clocked a 1:55.07 during prelims in the 200 free to shave down the 1:55.19 set by Annika Lurz (then Liebs) in 2006. Steffen also performed well in the 100 IM during prelims with a time of 1:00.30 to cut the 1:01.18 set by Teresa Rohmann in 2004. Steffen finally broke a record during finals with a 23.90 in the 50 free to become the first German woman under 24 seconds as she lowered her own 24.24 from 2006.
Additionally, Helge Meeuw smashed the men's 200 backstroke record with a time of 1:51.51 to surpass the 1:53.07 set by Steffen Driesen in 2003.
Click here to view event results PDF file.