BUDAPEST, Hungary, Aug. 4. THE 28th LEN European Championships held in Budapest, Hungary cooled down after witnessing three world records over the initial four days of competition. Three meet records fell, however, in a sparkling day of swimming in Europe.<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 1500-meter Freestyle<\/b>
\nRussia\u2019s Yury Prilukov shattered a nine-year-old meet record in the distance freestyle with a 14:51.93 to capture gold. His performance eclipsed the 14:58.65 turned in by Italy\u2019s Emiliano Brembilla in Sevilla in 1997. Meanwhile, France\u2019s Sebastien Rouault picked up silver in 14:55.73, while his countryman Nicolas Rostoucher snagged bronze in 15:01.82.<\/p>\n
"This year, I won the world short course title, now won the gold here, and I hope I will win my third gold in the upcoming European short course championships,\u201d Prilukov said. \u201cI still miss a world long course title, which I want to win next year in Melbourne."<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s 200-meter Freestyle Semifinal<\/b>
\nLaure Manaudou clocked the quickest qualifying time of the morning with a 1:58.00, while Germany\u2019s Annika Liebs, who just uncorked an eye-popping 1:55 anchor leg during Germany\u2019s world-record run in the 800-meter freestyle relay on Thursday, snared the second-best time with a 1:58.39. Meanwhile, Poland\u2019s Otylia Jedrzejczak qualified third in 1:59.18.<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 100-meter Butterfly Semifinal<\/b>
\nUkraine\u2019s Andriy Serdinov nabbed the top spot with a 52.05, while Russia\u2019s Nikolay Skvortsov touched second in 52.85. Meanwhile, Ukraine\u2019s Sergiy Breus grabbed third in 53.06.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s 200-meter Breaststroke Final<\/b>
\nBritain\u2019s Kirsty Balfour grabbed gold in the 200 breast with a 2:25.66, while Ukraine\u2019s Yuliya Pidlisna took silver in 2:28.42. Hungary\u2019s Agnes Kovacs continued her solid meet in front of a home crowd with a bronze in 2:28.90.<\/p>\n
"I had the European record on my mind, but now I am pleased with my time,\u201d Balfour said. \u201cI made a big step forward this year."<\/p>\n
\u201cMy goal was to win a medal here in Budapest, now I have two,\u201d Kovacs said. \u201cI died on the last lap."<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 100-meter Freestyle Final<\/b>
\nItaly\u2019s Filippo Magnini picked up gold in 48.79, while Sweden\u2019s Stefan Nystrand took silver in 48.91. Meanwhile, Pieter Van Den Hoogenband rounded out the podium with a 48.94.<\/p>\n
"The time is not so good but the important thing is that I won the gold just like in Madrid in 2004,\u201d Magnini said. \u201cI saw the others well but I only concentrated on my own race."<\/p>\n
"I am pleased because it is my first under-49 time since 2004,\u201d Van Den Hoogenband said. \u201cIt was a very strong final. It is nice to be on the podium again. I was so happy to win the 200 final, so this is just a bonus. I will swim faster next time."<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s 50-meter Backstroke Semifinal<\/b>
\nWorld record co-holders Aleksandra Herasimenia of Bulgaria (28.51) and Janine Pietsch of Germany (28.57) both cleared the standard of 28.58 previously set by Spain\u2019s Nina Zhivanevskaia in 2002. Meanwhile, German Antje Buschschulte picked up third in 28.97.<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 200-meter Backstroke Semifinal<\/b>
\nRussia\u2019s Arkady Vyatchanin knocked down the third meet record of the day with a 1:57.16 as the top qualifier in the 200 back. He surpassed the previous standard of 1:57.58 set by Markus Rogan in 2004. Germany\u2019s Helge Meeuw placed second in 1:57.45, while Hungarian Laszlo Cseh finished third in 1:57.76. Notably, Rogan came in fourth in 1:57.90.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s 100-meter Butterfly Final<\/b>
\nInge Dekker of the Netherlands captured gold in 58.35, while Slovakia\u2019s Martina Moravcova pocketed silver in 58.98. France\u2019s Alena Popchanka closed out the medal-winners with bronze in 59.06.<\/p>\n
"This is my first really big success," Dekker said. "I got a felling that I could make it today. When I did not see anybody beside me at 90 meters, I knew I had done it."<\/p>\n
"One of my goals was to be the oldest swimmer winning a medal here," Moravcova said. "I probably achieved that."<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 50-meter Breaststroke Semifinal<\/b>
\nWorld record holder Oleg Lisogor posted the top time in the semifinals with a 27.63, while Italy\u2019s Alessandro Terrin touched second in 27.77. Meanwhile, Russia\u2019s Roman Sludnov finished third in 27.94. <\/p>\n
Norbert Agh contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BUDAPEST, Hungary, Aug. 4. THE 28th LEN European Championships held in Budapest, Hungary cooled down after witnessing three world records over the initial four days of competition. Three meet records<\/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-11760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n