PARIS, France, June 19. THE French quartet of Amaury Leveaux (48.81), Fabien Gilot (48.05), Fred Bousquet (48.41) and Alain Bernard (47.27) lit the pool on fire at the Paris Open with a European record in the men's 400 free relay.<\/p>\n
The foursome completed the swim in 3:12.54, just off the United States world record of 3:12.46 set at the Pan Pacific Championships in 2006.<\/p>\n
Here are the splits compared between the two swims:
\nUnited States:
\nMichael Phelps (48.83)
\nNeil Walker (47.89)
\nCullen Jones (47.96)
\nJason Lezak (47.78)<\/p>\n
France:
\nAmaury Leveaux (48.81)
\nFabien Gilot (48.05)
\nFred Bousquet (48.41)
\nAlain Bernard (47.27)<\/p>\n
The French team smashed Italy's previous European record of 3:14.04 set at the 2007 World Championships.<\/p>\n
South Africa's Troyden Prinsloo opened the last day of swimming with a victory in the men's 1500 free. He touched in 15:18.06, while France went 2-3 with Sebastien Rouault taking second in 15:22.84 and Anthony Pannier placing third in 15:32.59.<\/p>\n
Sweden's Therese Alshammar earned the women's 50 fly title in 26.13. While not close to her world record of 25.46, she still finished well ahead of France's Malia Metella. Metella just missed Alena Popchanka's French record of 26.97 with a 27.09. Sweden's Cecilia Rasmuson rounded out the top three in 27.14.<\/p>\n
In the men's 200 free, France swept the top two spots with Gilot winning in 1:49.77 and Clement Lefert touching second in 1:50.31. Ukraine's Sergiy Advena took third in 1:50.71.<\/p>\n
Although she snagged the women's 50 breast title with a 31.72 during morning finals, Zoe Baker actually went must faster last night with a 31.27 during prelims. Sweden's Rebecca Ejdervik took second in 32.18, while Great Britain's Kate Haywood finished third in 32.28. Germany's Janne Schafer qualified second last night with a 31.92, but was DQed during finals.<\/p>\n
French-record holder Hugues Duboscq nearly dipped under a minute again in the 100 breast, as he owns his nation's record with a 59.78. Duboscq won in 1:00.40, while Great Britain's Christopher Cook finished second in 1:01.56 and South Africa's Cameron van der Burgh took third in 1:01.74.<\/p>\n
France's Camille Muffat walked away with the women's 400 IM title in 4:43.75, while Spain's Mireia Belmonte took second in 4:44.40. Great Britain's Keri Anne Payne completed the podium in 4:46.36.<\/p>\n
Bousquet went after his national record of 51.50 in the men's 100 fly, but came up short with a winning time of 51.90. He finished a full second ahead of compatriot Christophe Lebon, who took second in 52.90. Greece's Stephanos Dimitriadis wound up third in 53.60.<\/p>\n
Spain's Nina Zhivanevskaya snared the women's 100 back title in 1:01.99, while Great Britain's Elizabeth Simmonds took second in 1:02.00. Italy's Elena Gemo placed third in 1:03.56. Notably, Zhivanevskaya had a stronger preliminary time last night with a 1:01.78.<\/p>\n
In the men's 50 back, Randall Bal took a serious run at his American record of 24.84 when he won the sprint back event in 24.99. South Africa's Gerhard Zandberg placed second in 25.01, while Great Britain's Liam Tancock, who owns the world record with a 24.47, finished third in 25.36.<\/p>\n
France's Aurore Mongel touched first in the women's 200 fly with a time of 2:07.63, while South Africa's Amanda Loots earned second in 2:09.98. Italy's Caterina Giacchetti grabbed third in 2:11.61. Loots broke her South African record of 2:10.49 set during the Barcelona stop of the Mare Nostrum.<\/p>\n
In a head-to-head match-up, Ukraine's Vadym Lepskii beat Spain's Brenton Cabello Forns, 2:03.27 to 2:03.83, in the men's 200 IM, while Javier Nunez Molano of Spain placed third in 2:04.38.<\/p>\n
After suffering some surprising losses during the meet, France's Laure Manaudou emerged triumphant from the women's 400 free with a time of 4:07.69. South Africa's Wendy Trott placed second in 4:09.44, while Romania's Camelia Potec took third in 4:10.51.<\/p>\n
The French sprinters demonstrated some of the fireworks yet to come as Bernard (21.83), Bousquet (21.97) and Leveaux (22.06) swept the top three in the men's 50 free. Notably, Bousquet clocked a swift 21.69 during prelims to be the top qualifier.<\/p>\n
In a short field, Coralie Dobral won the women's 200 breast in 2:33.22, while Spain's Mireia Belmonte (2:35.45) and France's Fanny Babou (2:37.35) made up the complete field.<\/p>\n
Benjamin Stasiulis led a French podium sweep in the men's 200 back with a time of 2:00.99. Simon Dufour finished second in 2:03.99, while Jeremy Stravius touched third in 2:07.54.<\/p>\n
Popchanka won the women's 100 free in 54.80, while compatriot Celine Couderc finished second in 55.41. Caitlin McClatchey of Great Britain placed third in 55.91.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PARIS, France, June 19. THE French quartet of Amaury Leveaux (48.81), Fabien Gilot (48.05), Fred Bousquet (48.41) and Alain Bernard (47.27) lit the pool on fire at the Paris Open<\/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-18315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n