Lisogor Breaks World Record in 50 Breast as World Cup Hits Berlin

BERLIN, Germany, January 21. ANNUALLY known as the fastest stop on the World Cup circuit, Berlin didn’t disappoint on Saturday as world and European short-course records were established on the first day of competition. The world record arrived courtesy of the Ukraine’s Oleg Lisogor in the 50-meter breaststroke while the European standard was supplied by Great Britain’s Melanie Marshall in the 200 freestyle.

Already the world-record holder, Lisogor clocked in at 26.17, lowering his mark of 26.20, which had stood since the 2002 edition of the Berlin World Cup. Lisogor won his race handily and will be back on the blocks on Sunday for the 100 breast. For Marshall, she covered the eight-lap freestyle in 1:54.53, slightly quicker than the former European record of 1:54.64, held by Sweden’s Josefin Lillhage.

The first day of action was good to the hometown gang as Thomas Rupprath highlighted the German efforts with a win in the 100 individual medley (53.52) and a second-place showing behind American Randall Bal in the 100 backstroke. Bal took top honors in the event with a time of 51.41, slightly swifter than the 51.43 registered by Rupprath.

Paul Biedermann also contributed a German victory in the 400 freestyle (3:41.94) while Janine Pietsch was the victor in the 50 backstroke. The world-record holder in the long-course version of the event, Pietsch was timed in 27.20. Other than Bal, the only other American triumph was provided by Tara Kirk, who duplicated her win in the 100 breast in Sweden with a 1:05.63 effort that launched her well in front of the competition.

Coming off a strong showing in Sweden, which opened the European leg of the World Cup Series, Japan continued to sizzle as Hidemasa Sano was triumphant in the 400 individual medley (4:06.85) and Hanae Ito was the top finisher in the women’s 200 backstroke (2:05.67). Other Japanese gold was mined by Ai Shibata in the women’s 800 free (8:18.76) and Maiko Fujino in the women’s 200 I.M. (2:09.54).

Other winners on the first day of Berlin action were France’s Alain Bernard in the men’s 100 freestyle (47.90), South Africa’s Mandy Loots in the women’s 100 butterfly (58.42), Poland’s Pawel Korzeniowski in the men’s 200 butterfly (1:53.08), Sweden’s Marleen Veldhuis in the women’s 50 free (24.32), Russia’s Grigory Falko in the men’s 200 breast (2:08.10) and the Ukraine’s Sergiy Breus in the men’s 50 fly (23.30).

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