EINDHOVEN, The Netherlands, November 26. THE second day of racing at the European Short Course Championships featured a European records falling by the wayside in the men's 50 back finale.<\/p>\n
Women's 800 free finals<\/b>
\nItaly's Federica Pellegrini cruised to victory in the distance free event with an 8:15.20. That swim put her third in the world this year behind Katie Goldman (8:12.65) and Blair Evans (8:14.86). Hungary's Boglarka Kapas touched second in 8:18.56, while Ireland's Grainne Murphy earned third in 8:19.45 as the pair moved to fourth and fifth in the world rankings.<\/p>\n
Spain's Melanie Costa Schmid (8:21.92), Slovenia's Tjasa Oder (8:22.77), Slovenia's Nina Cesar (8:24.57), Russia's Elizaveta Gorshkova (8:28.48) and Spain's Claudia Dasca Romeu (8:29.05) comprised the rest of the top eight.<\/p>\n
Men's 50 back semis\/finals<\/b>
\nRussia's Stanislav Donets paced qualifying with a 23.11 in the sprint back. The effort finished just a bit short of his top-ranked time of 22.94 from prelims today. The Netherlands' Nick Driebergen qualified second in 24.01, while Italy's Damiano Lestingi finished third in 24.02.<\/p>\n
Russia's Vitaly Borisov (24.05), Germany's Stefan Herbst (24.12), Italy's Mirco Di Tora (24.39) and Belarus' Pavel Sankovich (24.50) qualified fourth through seventh. Switzerland's Flori Lang and Israel's Jonatan Kopelev set up a swimoff for eighth place with matching 24.58s. Kopelev won the swimoff, 24.60 to 24.62<\/p>\n
Donets followed in the finale with a European-record performance of 22.74. That swim eclipsed his time from last year's Euro Short Course meet of 22.76, which had put him second all-time in the event's history behind world-record holder Peter Marshall (22.61). The effort stands third all-time on the performances list behind Marshall's global standard of 22.61 and 22.73. <\/p>\n
Borisov finished a distant second in 23.72, while Driebergen placed third in 23.73. Herbst (23.90), Lestingi (24.10), Sankovich (24.31), Di Tora (24.34) and Kopelev (24.58) posted the other championship swims.<\/p>\n
Women's 50 fly semis\/finals<\/b>
\nThe Netherlands' Inge Dekker led the way with a 25.73 in semis after clocking a second-ranked time of 25.45 during prelims. Israel's Amit Ivry took second in 25.98, while Estonia's Triin Aljand qualified third in 26.01.<\/p>\n
The Netherlands' Hinkelien Schreuder (26.06), Norway's Ingvild Snildal (26.09), Austria's Fabienne Nadarajah (26.10), Italy's Elena Gemo (26.24) and Germany's Lisa Vitting (26.44) grabbed the rest of the championship spots.<\/p>\n
Dekker returned in finals with a winning time of 25.38, edging Schreuder's second-place 25.49. Dekker improved her second-ranked time from prelims, but missing Therese Alshammar's top-ranked 25.24. Schreuder moved into a fourth-ranked tie with Jeanette Ottesen. <\/p>\n
Aljand (25.90), Ivri (26.04), Snildal (26.10), Nadarajah (26.25), Gemo (26.31) and Vitting (26.39) completed the rest of the championship field.<\/p>\n
Men's 400 IM finals<\/b>
\nHungary's David Verraszto captured the distance medley title going away with a 4:03.06. He improved his already third-ranked season best of 4:04.62, but could not eclipse Brian Johns' 4:03.05. Thiago Pereira owns the top time in the world this year with a 4:02.82. Germany's Yannick Lebherz finished second in 4:05.08 to move to fifth in the world, while Italy's Federico Turrini finished third in 4:05.24 for sixth in the world. <\/p>\n
Lithuania's Vytautas Janusaitis (4:05.85), Italy's Luca Marin (4:09.11), Spain's Alan Cabello Forns (4:11.38), Portugal's Diogo Filipe Carvalho (4:11.41) and Greece's Ioannis Drymonakos (4:12.15) also swam in the finale.<\/p>\n
Women's 200 breast finals<\/b>
\nIn an exciting finish, Russia's Anastasia Chaun touched out Slovenia's Tanja Smid, 2:22.68 to 2:22.88. Italy's Chiara Boggiatto rounded out the podium in 2:24.52.<\/p>\n
Spain's Beatriz Gomez Cortes (2:25.48), Belgium's Fanny Lecluyse (2:25.60), Finland's Noora Laukkanen (2:27.63), Austria's Caroline Reitshammer (2:28.16) and Turkey's Dilara Guenaydin (2:28.60) touched fourth through eighth.<\/p>\n
Men's 100 breast finals<\/b>
\nItaly's Fabio Scozzoli captured the crown in 57.78, improving his already fourth-ranked season best of 58.01 without moving up the ladder. Felipe Silva (56.79), Ryo Tateishi (57.43) and Cameron van der Burgh (57.75) have all been faster this year. Germany's Hendrik Feldwehr touched second in 58.09, while The Netherlands' Robin van Aggele placed third in 58.68.<\/p>\n
Ukraine's Igor Borysik (58.70), Russia's Anton Lobanov (58.71), The Netherlands' Lennart Stekelenburg (58.96), Austria's Hunor Mate (58.97) and Germany's Marco Koch (59.31) picked up fourth through eighth in the finale.<\/p>\n
Women's 100 free finals<\/b>
\nThe Netherlands' Ranomi Kromowidjojo crushed the sprint event with a top-ranked time of 51.44. That swim cleared her previously top-ranked time of 51.94 from earlier in the meet, and moved her to fourth all-time in the event. Only Libby Trickett (51.01), Fran Halsall (51.39) and Inge Dekker (51.35) have been faster. Her effort is the fastest in a textile suit, clearing the previous top time under those conditions of 51.70 clocked by Trickett in August 2005.<\/p>\n
The Netherlands' Femke Heemskerk finished second in 52.02, while Germany's Britta Steffen placed third in 52.92. <\/p>\n
Finland's Hanna-Maria Seppala (53.46), Germany's Daniela Schreiber (53.57), Serbia's Miroslava Najdanovski (54.14), Italy's Chiara Masini Luccetti (54.27) and Belarus' Sviatlana Khakhlova (54.50) also competed in the championship heat.<\/p>\n
Men's 100 free semis<\/b>
\nItaly's Luca Dotto topped qualifying in 47.40, while Russia's Evgeny Lagunov touched second in 47.53. Italy's Filippo Magnini wound up third in 47.54.<\/p>\n
Russia's Daniil Izotov (47.59), Czech's Martin Verner (48.03), The Netherlands' Joost Reijns (48.13), Finland's Ari-Pekka Liukkonen (48.17) and Belgium's Jasper Aerents (48.31) made up the rest of the championship finale.<\/p>\n
Women's 100 back finals<\/b>
\nUkraine's Daryna Zevina knocked off The Netherlands' Sharon Van Rouwendaal, 57.57 to 57.91. The pair moved into the top eight in the world with the times. Spain's Duane Da Rocha Marce finished third overall in 58.37.<\/p>\n
Czech's Simona Baumrtova (58.93), Russia's Ksenia Moskvina (59.24), Great Britain's Rachel Lefley (59.25), The Netherlands' Wendy van der Zanden (59.63) and Germany's Jenny Mensing (59.97) also swam in the championship heat.<\/p>\n
Men's 100 fly finals<\/b>
\nGermany's Steffen Deibler became the first man under 50 seconds this year with a winning time of 49.95. He cleared his previously top-ranked season best of 50.43 from the Tokyo stop of the World Cup. The Netherlands' Joeri Verlinden touched second in 50.52, while Slovenia's Peter Mankoc posted a third-place 50.92. Verlinden moved to second in the world, while Mankoc took fifth in the rankings.<\/p>\n
Germany's Ben Starke (50.93), Russia's Vladislav Seryy (51.51), Russia's Nikolay Skvortsov (51.63), Croatia's Mario Todorovic (52.32) and Austria's Martin Spitzer (52.40) rounded out the championship field.<\/p>\n
Women's 100 IM semis<\/b>
\nHungary's Evelyn Verraszto continued a strong meet with a leading time of 59.88 in the sprint medley. That swim pushed her to fourth in the world rankings behind Emily Seebohm (59.29), Hinkelien Schreuder (59.29) and Natalie Coughlin (59.46).<\/p>\n
Schreuder qualified second in 1:00.21, while Germany's Theresa Michalak earned third in 1:00.26.<\/p>\n
Belarus' Sviatlana Khakhlova (1:00.44), France's Sophie De Ronchi (1:00.57), Israel's Amit Ivry (1:00.60), Russia's Olga Klyuchnikova (1:00.74) and Italy's Francesca Segat (1:00.76) claimed the rest of the transfer spots into finals.<\/p>\n
Women's 200 free relay finals<\/b>
\nThe Netherlands' Inge Dekker, Femke Heemskerk, Hinkelien Schreuder and Ranomi Kromowidjojo won the relay in 1:34.34. Dekker led off with a 24.06, to better her third-ranked time of 24.07 in the 50 free. Germany's Dorothea Brandt, Britta Steffen, Lisa Vitting and Daniela Schreiber took second in 1:36.83, while Finland's Marlene Niemi, Emilia Pikkarainen, Lotta Nevalainen and Hanna-Maria Seppala finished third in 1:39.02.<\/p>\n
Ukraine (1:39.81), Italy (1:40.44), Norway (1:40.54), Russia (1:40.85) and Croatia (1:43.10) made up the rest of the finale.<\/p>\n
Women's 100 free S9, S10 finals<\/b>
\nSpain's Esther Morales Fernandez gave her European record a scare in the S10 division with a 1:02.69, but fell short of her 1:02.66. Spain's Sarai Gascon Moreno led the S9 division with a 1:02.79.<\/p>\n