European Short Course Championships: Day One Finals, Two World Records Fall

DEBRECEN, Hungary, December 13. AS the calendar year 2007 comes to a close, the best of the best in European swimming assembled in Debrecen, Hungary, to contest the European Short Course Championships this weekend.

The first day of swimming proved to be fruitful as a pair of world records and a European record fell by the wayside on top of a myriad of other national standards being logged on the day.

Men's 400 freestyle
Poland's Pawel Korzeniowski claimed the first title on offer with an exciting triumph over Germany's Paul Piedermann in the men's middle distance event. Korzeniowski clocked a top time of 3:38.72, just ahead of Biedermann's quick second-place readout of 3:38.76. Hungary's own Gergo Kis grabbed third in 3:39.52.

Korzeniowski finished just off his Polish record time of 3:38.20, while Biedermann also nearly cleared his German standard of 3:38.22. Kis, however, did eclipse Hungary's standard with the time of 3:39.52. The previous record had been Laszlo Cseh's 3:40.69.

Korzeniowski and Biedermann went toe-to-toe as seen by this side-by-side split analysis:

Korzeniowski
26.02, 53.46, 1:21.09, 1:48.89, 2:16.73, 2:44.56, 3:12.21

Biedermann
25.86, 53.25, 1:20.92, 1:48.95, 2:16.53, 2:44.62, 3:12.49.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 200 backstroke
Austria's Markus Rogan clipped the European record set by Russia's Arkady Vyatchanin in 2006 when Rogan tore through the event with a time of 1:49.86. While still well off the astonishing world record time of 1:49.05 set by Ryan Lochte at the 2006 Shanghai World Championships, Rogan's readout still cleared Vyatchanin's 1:49.98.

Meanwhile, Vyatchanin's compatriot Stanislav Donets earned second-place honors with a time of 1:51.94, while Spain's Aschwin Wildeboer Faber took down Martin Lopez-Zubero's 1991 Spanish record of 1:52.51 by snaring third place here in Hungary with a time of 1:52.12. Lopez-Zubero's time had stood since April 11, 1991.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Women's 200 IM
France's Camille Muffat took a run at her French record of 2:08.95, but fell a bit short as she settled for the European title with a top time of 2:09.05. Katarzyna Baranowska of Poland had better luck, however, with her own national standard as she lowered her previous best time of 2:09.47 set in 2006 with a second-place effort of 2:09.25. Hungary's Evelyn Verraszto blasted her Hungarian record time of 2:11.07 as she flew right past the 2:10s with a third-place readout of 2:09.83.

Muffat clocked splits of 28.15, 1:01.30, 1:39.11 en route to using a dominant freestyle leg of 29.94 to overtake Baranowska. Baranowska on the other hand posted splits of 28.69, 1:01.27 and 1:38.85.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Women's 200 butterfly
Poland's Otylia Jedrzejczak set the world record in the women's 200 butterfly with a blazing fast effort. Jedrzejczak clocked a time of 2:03.53 to erase the 2:04.04 previous set by China's Yu Yang in Berlin on Jan. 18, 2004.

Jedrzejczak used a tremendous back half as she clocked splits of 28.56, 59.51, 1:31.06 on the way to the 2:03.53. Initially, she'd trailed Hungary's Emese Kovacs, who finished second with a time of 2:05.41. Meanwhile, Germany's Annika Mehlhorn placed third in 2:06.53.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 200 IM
Just minutes after Otylia Jedrzejczak set the women's 200 butterfly world record, Laszlo Cseh gave the hometown crowd something else to cheer about with a global standard of his own in the 200 IM.

Cseh became the first man under 1:53 by the slimmest of margins when he touched in 1:52.99 to eclipse the short-lived record of 1:53.14 set by Brazil's Thiago Pereira during the Berlin stop of the World Cup series in November.

Cseh led from the get-go with quick splits of 24.14, 51.64 and 1:25.11 on the way to the 1:52.99.

Croatia's Sasa Impric placed second in 1:57.48, a national record surpassing the previous standard of 1:57.74 set by Kresimir Cac in 2003. Russia's Alexander Tikhonov rounded out the top three in 1:57.59.

"I really wanted to break the world record, I was ready to do that," Cseh said. "Two days ago, I wrote down the time what I thought I would swim today and put it in an envelope. I gave it to the president of Hungarian Swimming. You would not believe it if I would not have done this, but I was very exact. Two days ago I said I would swim 1.52.99. I was right! This is my present to my National Swimming Federation, which is celebrating its 100th birthday!"

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 50 freestyle
In a lightning fast men's sprint 50 event, Sweden's Stefan Nystrand surfaced victorious with a winning effort of 21.11, nearly delivering another world record performance after setting the standard with a 20.93 at the Berlin World Cup stop just a few short weeks ago.

Meanwhile, Croatia's Duje Draganja cut his own national record of 21.38 set in 2006 at the Shanghai World Championships with a fast time of his own when he finished second in 21.23.

Completing the star-studded top three, France's Alain Bernard clocked a third-place time of 21.57.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Women's 50 breaststroke
The women's sprint breaststroke event featured a tie between Russian youngster Yuliya Efimova and German star Janne Schaefer. The pair each stopped the clock in 30.33. The performance stood a bit shy of Efimova's national record time of 30.29 from the Berlin World Cup stop, while Schaefer lowered her own German record of 30.36 set in 2004.

Germany's Sarah Poewe rounded out the podium with a third-place time of 30.80 after Sweden's Hanna Westrin had a 30.6 wiped out due to disqualification.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 200 medley relay
Germany took a shot at its world record of 1:34.06 set in 2006, but fell shy with a winning effort of 1:34.39. The German contingent of Thomas Rupprath, Markus Diebler, Johannes Dietrich and Steffen Deibler had all it could handle as the Russian foursome of Stanislav Donets, Dmitry Komornikov, Evgeny Korotyshkin and Sergey Fesikov clocked a second-place time of 1:34.99.

The Netherlands' quartet of Nick Driebergen, Robin Van Aggele, Bastiaan Tamminga and Mitja Zastrow completed the top three with a time of 1:35.35.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Top Semifinal Performances
France's Laure Manaudou should be a shoo-in for the European record of 57.75 set by Llona Hlavackova in 2001 after punching the wall with a semifinal leading time of 57.78 during the women's 100 back. The question will remain during finals, does she have enough to scare Natalie Coughlin's world record of 56.51.

In the men's 100 fly, Serbia's Milorad Cavic will be looking to drop under 50 for the first time after posting a time of 50.24 in semis. Cavic's best time is the European record of 50.02 set in 2003. Russia's Evgeny Korotyshkin will be pushing him the whole way as he clocked a second-place 50.44.

Bulgaria's Mike Alexandrov will own the top seed going into finals of the men's 100 breast after touching in 58.52 – a Bulgarian national record. Meanwhile, Norway's Alexander Dale Oen finished second in 58.60 – what should also stand as a Norwegian national record.

Germany's Britta Steffen led qualifying in the women's 100 free by a slim margin over Sweden's Josefin Lillhage as the pair joined each other under 53 with times of 52.96 and 52.97.

Special thanks to Norbert Agh for contributing to this report.

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