EINDHOVEN, Netherlands, March 20. DURING the third night of swimming at the European Championships held in Eindhoven, France's Laure Manaudou scorched the 100-meter back with a European record during semifinals.<\/p>\n
Manaudou dropped a time of 59.50 for the top seed, much to the amazement of the crowd. That performance smashed her previous continental standard of 59.87 set at the 2007 World Championships.<\/p>\n
Additionally, it is the fifth-fastest time in the history of the event with Natalie Coughlin owning the world record in 59.21 as well as a 59.44, while Kirsty Coventry holds a 59.42 and 59.47.<\/p>\n
The swim also moved Manaudou back into third all time ahead of Hayley McGregory's recent sterling time of 59.81.<\/p>\n
In other action, Gergo Kis of Hungary clocked a meet-record time of 7:51.94 to win the men's 800 free. He eclipsed the 7:57.33 he'd set in preliminary action, which had been his national record in the event. Italy's Samuel Pizzetti finished second in 7:54.09, while Romania's Dragos Coman snared bronze in 7:54.37 \u2013 a new national record.<\/p>\n
Mirna Jukic of Austria walked away with the women's 100 breast title when she hit the wall in 1:08.18, which just missed her national record of 1:07.98 set in earlier action. Russia's Alena Alekseeva finished second in 1:08.91, while Sweden's Joline Hoestman touched out Belgium's Elise Matthysen, 1:08.94 to 1:08.95, for third.<\/p>\n
In the men's 200 free, Paul Biedermann finally caught up to the illustrious Michael Gross for the German national record in the event. Biedermann clocked a time of 1:46.59 to eclipse Gross' standard of 1:47.44 set way back during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. France's Amaury Leveaux finished second in 1:46.99, while Italy's Massi Rosolino took third in 1:47.33. Leveaux' time surpassed his own national record of 1:47.89 set in earlier action.<\/p>\n
After wowing the crowd during semis with the big time of 1:57.90 for the meet record, Hungary's Laszlo Cseh settled for the victory with another swift effort of 1:58.02 in the men's 200 IM. That crushed the field led by Austria's Dinko Jukic, who touched second in 1:59.65. Lithuania's Vytautas Janusaitis placed third in 2:00.17.<\/p>\n
In another final, Marleen Veldhuis punched the pad in 53.77 to win the women's 100 free for host Netherlands. Finland's Hanna-Maria Seppala took second in 54.04, while Netherlands' Inge Dekker finished third in 54.12.<\/p>\n
In other semifinal action, Spain's Mireia Belmonte Garcia claimed the top seed in the women's 200 IM with a 2:11.67, while Russia's Nikolay Skvortsov topped the men's 200 fly qualifying with a 1:55.94. Additionally, Israel's Guy Barnea paced the men's 50 back in 25.43, while France's Hugues Duboscq clocked a meet-record time of 2:09.85 in the men's 200 breast. <\/p>\n