By John Lohn<\/p>\n
CRANBURY, New Jersey, December 11. WITH the majority of the country's major programs racing in invitational action last week, this past weekend was relatively quiet on the collegiate scene. Nonetheless, there was plenty of fast action over the last few days, largely due to the European Short Course Championships and the Australian World Championship Trials.<\/p>\n
In Helsinki, Finland, site of the European Champs, France's Laure Manaudou was the star performer, hardly a stunning development. Untouchable, it seems, in the 400-meter freestyle, Manaudou set the only individual world record of the four-day meet, as she negotiated her main event in 3:56.09 to better her own mark. When the World Championships roll around, it will be interesting to see how close Manaudou can get to the four-minute barrier in a long-course pool.<\/p>\n
Also in Finland, Hungary's Dani Gyurta was the winner of the 200 breaststroke, probably his finest showing in the water since the teenager won the silver medal in the 200 breast at the Athens Olympics. While Gyurta was four seconds off Ed Moses' world record, the fact that he was on top of the medal podium adds some intrigue to the stroke on a global basis.<\/p>\n
By claiming gold in the 100 and 200 backstroke disciplines, Russia's Arkady Vyatchanin made an argument for top showing on the male side of the competition. Vyatchanin set a European record in the 200 back of 1:49.98, and became just the second man in history, along with Ryan Lochte, to go sub-1:50 in the distance dorsal.<\/p>\n
In the Southern Hemisphere, the Aussie Trials for the World Championships wrapped up with a pair of national records late in the competition. Eamon Sullivan set an Australian standard of 22.00 in the 50 freestyle and provided some life for the Aussie men, slipping at a rapid rate in comparison to their former status. Sullivan also won the 100 free by cracking the 49-second barrier for the first time.<\/p>\n
While Leisel Jones dominated the breaststroke events and Libby Lenton won the 50 and 100 freestyles, Jennifer Reilly supplied a promising swim in the 400 individual medley by winning the race in a national-record of 4:38.62. With the medley events a weakness for the Aussie women, Reilly's swim is a major development for a nation that has a dominant lineup in almost every other area.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, in short-course yards action, Kate Ziegler blasted a pair of American records at the Tom Dolan Invitational. After setting a mark of 15:37.17 in the 1,650 free, breaking a Janet Evans record, Ziegler broke her own record in the 1,000 free with a time of 9:21.57.<\/p>\n
Here are some college stories from the last few days.<\/p>\n
A Day in the Life: Andrea Hupman, Day 1<\/a> By John Lohn CRANBURY, New Jersey, December 11. WITH the majority of the country's major programs racing in invitational action last week, this past weekend was relatively quiet on the<\/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-13002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n
SwimmingWorldMagazine.com Weekly Channel Recap: December 9, 2006<\/a>
A Day in the Life: Jay Ashenfelter, Day 5<\/a>
South Carolina Signs Diver Zack<\/a>
Florida State Inks Five Recruits<\/a>
Nutmeg Invitational Starts Up at Yale<\/a>
Purdue Men Sign Three<\/a>
A Day in the Life: Jay Ashenfelter, Day 4<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"