BUDAPEST, Hungary, Aug. 3. ANOTHER day at the 28th LEN Europeans Championships, another world record for Germany. The women\u2019s 800-meter freestyle relay contingent of Petra Dallmann, Daniela Samulski, Britta Steffen and Annika Liebs obliterated the previous world standard held by the United States (7:53.42) with an incredible time of 7:50.82.<\/p>\n
Dallmann fell behind Poland\u2019s Otylia Jedrzejczak in the opening leg as Jedrzejczak touched in 1:57.15, almost a full two seconds ahead of Dallman\u2019s 1:59.14. <\/p>\n
Samulski made up the difference in the second leg with a quick 1:58.27 split, before budding superstar Steffen blazed in with a 1:57.77 split in the third leg.<\/p>\n
Liebs did what the anchor leg is supposed to do, drop the hammer and bring it home. She blistered the course with an astounding 1:55.64 to stop the clock with a world record.<\/p>\n
After the American quartet of Natalie Coughlin, Carly Piper, Dana Vollmer and Kaitlin Sandeno wiped out the drug-tainted 17-year-old standard of 7:55.47 previously held by East Germany with an incredible 7:53.42 at the 2004 Athens Olympics, a German relay came back to retake the global standard.<\/p>\n
In a head-to-head race between the record performances, Coughlin would have taken a two second lead over Dallman as the American\u2019s held a 1:57.74 to 1:59.14 advantage at the first relay exchange.<\/p>\n
At the second exchange, Piper would have held onto a slight American lead over Samulski with a 3:57.13 to 3:57.41 lead at the halfway point.<\/p>\n
The Germans would have made their move at the third relay exchange as their three-quarter time with Steffen touching the wall at 5:55.18 would have been slightly in front of Vollmer\u2019s touch at 5:55.25.<\/p>\n
In the end, Liebs\u2019 overpowering anchor leg of 1:55.64 would have absolutely blown away Sandeno as Liebs blasted the record at 7:50.82 against the American\u2019s 7:53.42.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Poland\u2019s team of Jedrzejczak, Joanna Budzis, Agata Zwiejska and Paulina Barzycka picked up silver in 7:56.32, while France\u2019s relay of Alena Popchanka, Sophie Huber, Aurore Mongel and Laure Manaudou took bronze in 7:56.44.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s 200-meter IM Finals<\/b>
\nLaure Manaudou continued her successful run at the Europeans with another victory. This triumph came by way of a 2:12.69, a second off the meet record of 2:11.59 held by Yana Klochkova of Ukraine. Poland\u2019s Katarzyna Baranowska snared silver in 2:13.36, while Italy\u2019s Alessia Filippi picked up bronze in 2:13.75.<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 100-meter Freestyle Semifinals<\/b>
\nItaly\u2019s Filippo Magnini posted the top-qualifying time of 48.91, while France\u2019s Frederick Bousquet touched second in 49.16. Additionally, Russia\u2019s Evgeney Lagunov clocked the third-fastest time of 49.20.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s 100-meter Butterfly Semifinals<\/b>
\nInge Dekker of the Netherlands clocked the quickest time out of the semis with a 58.64, while France\u2019s Alena Popchanka took second in 58.69. Slovakia\u2019s Martina Moravcova rounded out the top three with a 59.01.<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 200-meter Breaststroke Finals<\/b>
\nPoland\u2019s Slawomir Kuczko pocketed gold in 2:12.12 to hold off silver-winning Italian Paolo Bossini, who touched in 2:12.35. Meanwhile, Britain\u2019s Kristopher Gilchrist snagged bronze in 2:13.21.<\/p>\n
"My God, that is more than a surprise," Kuczko said. "Who would have tought I would win gold. since I already won the short course title, I am now also the long course European champ."<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s 100-meter Backstroke Finals<\/b>
\nLaure Manaudou accomplished the daily double with a 1:00.88 to capture her second gold of the day. Meanwhile, German\u2019s Antje Buschschulte earned silver in 1:01.40, while countrywoman Janine Pietsch garnered bronze in 1:01.55.<\/p>\n
"I am positively surprised by my time," Manaudou said."Because I missed my start but my second lap was excellent."<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 200-meter Butterfly Finals<\/b>
\nPoland\u2019s Pawel Korzeniowski erased a four-year old meet record in the 200 fly with a sterling time of 1:55.04. That effort surpassed Franck Esposito\u2019s 1:55.18 set in 2002 at Berlin. Meanwhile, Greece\u2019s Ionnis Drymonakos picked up silver in 1:57.03, while Russia\u2019s Nikolay Skvortsov nabbed bronze in 1:57.12.<\/p>\n
"After my elimination in the 400 free heats I was very angry," Korzeniowski said. "This was the revenge today but I hoped to clock a new European Record."<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s 200-meter Breaststroke Semifinals<\/b>
\nBritain\u2019s Kirsty Balfour cruised into the top-qualifying time with a 2:27.48, while Hungary\u2019s Agnes Kovacs touched second in 2:27.99. Meanwhile, Ukraine\u2019s Yuliya Pidlisna snared third in 2:28.60.<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 50-meter Backstroke Finals<\/b>
\nGermany\u2019s Helge Meeuw captured the 50 back crown in 25.06 to fall just .06 seconds off the meet record of his fellow countryman Thomas Rupprath\u2019s 25.00 set in 2002. Meanwhile, Greece\u2019s Aristeidis Grigoriadis took silver in 25.14, while Britain\u2019s Matthew Clay grabbed bronze in 25.15.<\/p>\n
Norbert Agh contributed to this report<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BUDAPEST, Hungary, Aug. 3. ANOTHER day at the 28th LEN Europeans Championships, another world record for Germany. The women\u2019s 800-meter freestyle relay contingent of Petra Dallmann, Daniela Samulski, Britta Steffen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n