Paris Open: Yannick Agnel, Camille Muffat Triple, Several Others Double to Close Out Meet

PARIS, France, July 7. FRANCE'S dynamic duo of Yannick Agnel and Camille Muffat each lassoed their third wins of the meet, while a handful of other swimmers collected their second individual win to wrap up the 6th Paris Open.

Sweden's Therese Alshammar, consistently ranked among the top performers in the world in the sprint free and fly events, added another title to her collection with the fastest time in the women's 50m fly final at 25.66. Inge Dekker of The Netherlands separated herself from the field for second in 25.88, while Poland's Anna Dowgiert took third in 26.42. Alshammar's time was just off her top swim of 2012, a second-ranked 25.58.

Yannick Agnel of France collected his third individual victory of the meet with a dominating performance in the men's 200m free. Agnel cruised to a 1:46.09, well off his top-ranked swim of 1:44.42 but still two and a half seconds ahead of second place finisher Jeremy Stravius (1:48.68). Clement Lefert touched right behind in 1:48.69.

In the women's 50m breast, Germany's Caroline Ruhnau stroked her way to victory in 31.52, a little over a tenth ahead of fellow countrywoman Sarah Poewe, who swam a 31.68. Fanny Babou of France came in third at 32.34. Ruhnau's top time of 2012 is a 31.33 from March.

Italy's Fabio Scozzoli swept the 50m and 100m breaststrokes after winning the 100m in 1:00.88. He just out-touched South African Cameron van der Burgh at the wall, as van der Burgh recorded a time of 1:00.96. van der Burgh has already been under a minute this year with a time of 59.73 from last month. Giacomo Perez Dortona of France earned third in 1:01.06.

Jason Dunford of Kenya took the men's 100m fly out fast and extended his lead over the second half of the race to win in 52.55. It was a great race behind him as the next six swimmers finished within six-tenths of a second of each other. Pawel Korzeniowski placed second in 53.31, followed closely by Italy's Piero Codia in 53.33.

In the women's 100m back, Anastasia Zueva of Russia popped a sub-1:00 performance, touching in 59.40 to easily out-pace the other finalists. Zueva has already swam a 58.97 this year, which stands second in the world behind Missy Franklin's 58.85. France's Alexianne Castel posted a 1:00.55 for second, with Duane Da Rocha Marce of Spain in third (1:00.97).

Camille Lacourt of France added another backstroke title to his win in the 100m last night as he finished the 50m in 25.01, well ahead of second place finisher Dorian Gandin of France (25.89). Jonathan Massacand of Switzerland earned a bronze medal for his efforts with a 26.45.

Spain's Judit Ignacio claimed top honors in the women's 200m fly, winning by a solid margin in 2:08.77, which is just off her fastest time of 2012, a 2:08.59. France's Lara Grangeon out-touched Switzerland's Martina van Berkel, 2:12.22 to 2:12.23, for silver.

Laszlo Cseh of Hungary looks ready to bring home some more Olympic hardware after a strong showing in the men's 200m IM. Cseh won the race by almost four seconds, finishing in 1:58.30. His fastest time of 2012 still stands at 1:56.66 from the European Championships in May. Russia's Dmitry Zhilin swam a 2:02.15 for second, followed by Germany's Markus Diebler in third (2:02.28).

After posting an incredible 4:04.82 on the second half of the 800m free last night, France's Camille Muffat barely beat that time in winning the individual 400m free tonight in 4:04.42. Still, Muffat bested the field by over four seconds, as Coralie Balmy swam a 4:08.75 for second. Romania's Camelia Potec, the 2004 Olympic champion in the 200m free, took third in 4:11.20.

Australia's Matt Targett earned his second sprint victory of the meet, by one one-hundredth of a second again, and this time in the 50m free. Targett swam a 22.14 to beat Florent Manaudou of France, who touched in 22.15. Frederick Bousquet of France finished third in 22.22.

Sarah Poewe of Germany swept the 100m and 200m breast events with a winning time of 2:28.75 in the 200m tonight. Nadja Higl of Serbia gave Poewe all she could handle but settled for second in 2:28.84. Morocco's Sara El Bekri was the only other finalist under 2:30, as she swam a 2:29.48 for third.

Benjamin Stasiulis of France and Jan Philip Glania of Germany pulled away from the field and battled to the end in the men's 200m back. Stasiulis led throughout the swim but nearly lost his lead to Glania over the last 50m, but Stasiulis pulled it out, 2:00.10 to 2:00.70. Joris Hustache of France came in a distant third at 2:04.16.

The Dutch sprinters put on a show in the women's 100m free, posting the top two times of the day with Femke Heemskerk (54.88) and Inge Dekker (55.23) in first and second. Russian Veronika Popova slipped in ahead of several others for third with a 55.50.

In the distance events of the day, France's Lara Grangeon posted the quickest 400m IM at 4:46.11, with Patricia Castro Ortega of Spain in second at 4:46.35. Italy's Alessia Polieri placed third in 4:53.65. In the men's 1500m free, Frenchman Damien Joly came out on top with a 15:28.36, ahead of Germany's Stefan Meissner (15:30.18) and France's Enzo Vial Collet (15:31.70).

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