Hayden Rockets to Meet Record in 100 Free at Pan Pacs

VICTORIA, British Columbia, Aug. 18. IN front of an audience filled with his compatriots, Canadian Brent Hayden claimed his country’s second gold of the 2006 Mutual of Omaha Pan Pacific Championships with a meet-record performance on Friday.

After trailing four other swimmers at the halfway mark of the 100-meter freestyle with a 23.45, Hayden turned on the afterburners and came home in 25.14 to stop the clock in 48.59. That performance smashed Australian Michael Klim’s meet standard of 48.81 set in 1999.

"I didn’t know where everyone else was in the pool (at the turn), I just had my eye on Lezak," Hayden said. "My priority was to stay close to him in the first 50, because he does have a very fast start. If I could do that and keep fighting, I knew we’d be battling it out for the gold at the end."

Meanwhile, Jason Lezak picked up silver for the United States with a 48.76 after going out in 23.25. Additionally, Australian Eamon Sullivan and South African Roland Schoeman, who just came off breaking the 50 SCM freestyle world record at the Deutscher Ring Aquatics meet last weekend, tied for bronze in 49.09. Sullivan touched in 23.29 at the 50-meter mark, while Schoeman went out the fastest of the championship heat with a 23.19.

At the end of the event, the U.S. pushed its top medal tally to 11 (7G, 4S) in front of second place Japan’s eight (1G, 2S, 5B). Australia rounded out the top three with five (1G, 1S, 3B).

Click Here to view event results PDF file

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