World Cup, Berlin: Circuit Comes to Close With Three World Records

Universal Sports Webcast Coverage of World Cup

BERLIN, Germany, November 16. THE final session of the 2008 FINA World Cup circuit, taking place in Berlin, Germany, sent the series out in a big way as three world records fell.

Men's 1500 freestyle
Denmark's Mads Glaesner walked away with the distance free title in 14:38.97, while Germany's Jan Wolfgarten took second in 14:39.58 and Great Britain's Daniel Fogg clinched third in 15:06.80.

Women's 100 freestyle
Sweden's Josefin Lillhage clinched the title with a time of 52.87, while Germany's Petra Dallmann placed second in 53.89. Kara Lynn Joyce of the U.S. finished in the money with a third-place 53.97.

Men's 200 freestyle
Germany's Paul Biedermann erased the longest-standing world short course record on the books with a time of 1:40.83. That effort eclipsed the 1:41.10 set by the incredible Ian Thorpe at the 2000 Berlin stop of the World Cup. Tunisia's Ous Mellouli touched second in 1:42.88, while South Africa's Darian Townsend finished third in 1:43.19.

Women's 50 breaststroke
Tara Kirk of the U.S. earned the top prize in the sprint breast with a time of 30.43. Germany's Janne Schaefer placed second in 30.55, while Australia's Sarah Katsoulis touched third in 30.58.

Men's 100 breaststroke
South Africa's Cameron van der Burgh cruised in finals with a triumphant 57.32. Ukraine's Igor Borysik finished second in 57.96, while Kazakhstan's Vlad Polyakov took third in 58.20.

Women's 400 IM
South Africa's Kathryn Meaklim pocketed the first-place cash prize with a time of 4:29.41, while Great Britain's Emma Smithurst took second in 4:34.11. Russia's Yana Martynova completed the podium in 4:34.82.

Men's 100 butterfly
Russia's Evgeny Korotyshkin broke the World Cup standard with a time of 49.74. That performance bettered the 50.10 set by Germany's Thomas Rupprath during the 2002 Berlin stop of the circuit. Australia's Matt Jaukovic finished second in 50.70, while Russia's Nikolay Skvortsov wound up third in 50.98.

Women's 100 backstroke
Germany's Daniela Samulski touched first in 58.03, while Russia's Anastasia Zueva (58.93) and Brazil's Fabiola Molina (58.98) turned in second and third-place finishes.

Men's 50 backstroke
Randall Bal and Peter Marshall of the U.S. put on a show in the sprint backstroke as both beat Marshall's world and national record of 23.05 set earlier this week during the Stockholm stop of the circuit.

Bal wound up reclaiming his global standard with a time of 22.87, just touching out Marshall, who placed second in 22.90. Australia's Robert Hurley rounded out the top three in 23.50.

Women's 200 butterfly
Sweden's Petra Granlund touched out South Africa's Mandy Loots, 2:06.00 to 2:06.60, for the first-place cash. Australia's Amy Smith placed third in 2:06.61.

Men's 200 IM
Tunisia's Ous Mellouli and South Africa's Darian Townsend provided fans another battle as the duo both bested the World Cup record of 1:53.14 set by Brazil's Thiago Pereira during the 2007 Berlin stop. Mellouli came out on top, 1:52.41 to 1:52.51. Lithuania's Vytautas Janusaitis completed the top three in 1:56.11.

Women's 400 freestyle
France's Coralie Balmy cruised in finals with a near-world record performance. Balmy crushed the World Cup standard of 3:59.53 set by Lindsay Benko of the U.S. during the 2003 Berlin stop. Balmy clocked a blazing time of 3:56.24, just missing Laure Manaudou's world record of 3:56.09 set in 2006.

Denmark's Lotte Friis touched second in 4:01.64, while New Zealand's Melissa Ingram placed third in 4:05.78.

Men's 50 freestyle
France's Alain Bernard grabbed the event title in 21.25, while Brazil's Nicholas Santos (21.43) and Germany's Steffen Deibler (21.47) made up the rest of the top three.

Women's 200 breaststroke
Australia's Sarah Katsoulis snagged first place with a time of 2:23.09, while Russia's Alena Alekseeva (2:23.45) finished second. South Africa's Kathryn Meaklim placed third in 2:25.09.

Women's 100 IM
Tara Kirk of the U.S. pocketed another first-place check with a time of 1:00.88. Japan's Tomoyo Fukuda turned in a second-place time of 1:01.14, while Germany's Theresa Michalak finished third in 1:01.22.

Men's 200 backstroke
Japan's Ryosuke Irie earned the title in 1:51.34, while Australia's Robert Hurley (1:52.29) and Spain's Aschwin Wildeboer (1:52.98) rounded out the top three.

Women's 50 butterfly
Australia's Marieke Guehrer closed the show in fine fashion with a global standard in the sprint fly. Guehrer erased the time of 25.31 set by Sweden's Therese Alshammar earlier this week in Stockholm with a swift time of 24.99. Alshammar took second in 25.35, while Singapore's Li Tao finished third in 25.70.

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