Flash! Manaudou Becomes First 4:02 Woman with World Record in 400 Free

BUDAPEST, Hungary, Aug. 6 WORLD-record holder Laure Manaudou of France not only lowered her own record in the 400-meter freestyle, she also became the first woman to ever surpass the 4:03 mark with an incredible 4:02.13. Amazingly, she almost cut an entire second off her time en route to the title at the 28th LEN European Championships on Sunday. 4:01 may not be far behind for the swimming superstar.

Her splits are as follows:
27.82, 57.81, 1:28.18, 1:59.11, 2:30.13, 3:01.16, 3:32.03 and 4:02.13.

Britain picked up the rest of the medals in the event as Joanne Jackson placed well behind Manaudou in 4:07.76 and Caitlin McClatchey finished third in 4:08.13.

In other action:

Women’s 50-meter Freestyle Final
100-meter free world-record holder Britta Steffen of Germany came up short of capturing her second individual standard of the meet with a gold-medal 24.72 in the 50 free. Meanwhile, Sweden’s Therese Alshammar, the meet-record holder, took silver in 24.87. Netherlands’ Marleen Veldhuis touched right behind with a bronze-medal 24.89.

Men’s 50-meter Freestyle Final
Poland’s Bartosz Kizierowski took down Alexander Popov’s six-year-old meet standard of 21.95 set in 2000 with a blistering 21.88 to pocket gold. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Olexandr Volynets took silver in 21.97, while Croatia’s Duje Draganja placed third in 22.14.

Women’s 50-meter Breaststroke Final
Russia’s Elena Bogomazova captured the title in 31.69, while Britain’s Kate Haywood finished second in 31.71. Hungary’s own Agnes Kovacs snared another medal in front of a partisan crowd with a third-place 31.95.

Women’s 200-meter Butterfly Final
World-record holder Otylia Jedrzejczak of Poland cruised into the top-spot on the podium with a 2:07.09. Meanwhile, Italians Francesca Segat and Caterina Giacchetti closed out the top three as Segat took second in 2:08.96 and Giacchetti placed third in 2:09.01.

Men’s 400-meter IM Final
Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh eclipsed his meet record with a sterling 4:09.86 to nearly down his European record of 4:09.63. Meanwhile, Italians snared silver and bronze for the second event in a row as Luca Marin placed second in 4:14.15 and Alessio Boggiatto finished third in 4:16.34.

Women’s 400-meter Medley Relay Final
Someone finally stopped the Germany freight train rolling through the European Championships as the British contingent of Melanie Marshall, Kristy Balfour, Terri Dunning and Francesca Halsall stopped the clock first in 4:02.24.

Meanwhile, Germany’s team of Antje Buschschulte, Sarah Poewe, Annika Mehlhorn and Britta Steffen earned silver in 4:02.35, while France’s Laure Manaudou, Anne-Sophie Le Paranthoen, Alena Popchanka and Celine Couderc won bronze in 4:03.64.

Fresh off a scintillating world-record performance in the 400 free, Manaudou posted the fastest backstroke leg with a 1:01.21.

Balfour put the Brits well ahead with her breaststroke split of 1:06.33 at the halfway mark before Popchanka tried to stage a comeback with the fastest butterfly split 58.40.

Incredibly, Steffen ripped off another amazing relay split during a breakout run at the European Championships with the quickest freestyle leg of 52.75.

Men’s 400-meter Medley Relay Final
Russia’s team of Arkady Vyatchanin, Roman Sludnov, Nikolay Skvortsov and Andrey Kapralov shattered Russia’s meet-record time of 3:36.21 set in 2002 in Berlin with a 3:34.96.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s squad of Andriy Oleynyk, Oleg Lisogor, Andriy Serdinov and Yuriy Yegoshin picked up silver in 3:36.21, while Britain’s Liam Tancock, James Gibson, Todd Cooper and Simon Burnett took bronze in 3:36.61.

Vyatchanin made an early statement by touching well ahead of anyone else with a backstroke leg of 53.66. Lisogor cut the gap by a slim margin with a 59.76 for the quickest breaststroke leg, while his teammate Serdinov continued to track down Russia with a 51.82 in the butterfly. Kapralov, however, held onto the win for Russia with a 48.25 freestyle leg, the third-fastest in the race. Burnett posted the best freestyle leg with a 48.01.

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