EINDHOVEN, Netherlands, March 21. EVEN with controversy brewing from Milorad Cavic's meet-suspension, swimmers have shrugged off the drama to put up some amazing times at the European Championships held in Eindhoven.
Women's 800 free finals
Italy's Alessia Filippi clocked a blistering time of 8:23.50, one of the 15 fastest in the event's history, to win the distance free race. Her effort clobbered her national record of 8:28.73 set last summer, while moving her into sixth all time in the event behind the likes of Janet Evans (8:16.22), Kate Ziegler (8:18.52), Laure Manaudou (8:18.80), Brooke Bennett (8:19.67) and Katie Hoff (8:22.80).
Spain's Erika Villaecija Garcia nabbed second-place honors right behind with a time of 8:24.08 that demolished her national record of 8:27.59 set at last year's World Championships.
Romania's Camelia Potec rounded out the medal-winners with a time of 8:25.28 that also shattered her national record of 8:28.80 set during preliminary qualifying.
Women's 200 IM finals
Spain's Mireia Belmonte Garcia dominated the final heat to the tune of a meet-record time of 2:11.16. Not only did that surpass the 2:11.59 set by Yana Klochkova from 2002, it also lowered her national record of 2:11.67 set during earlier action at this meet. Her effort also moved her into seventh all time behind Klochkova's lifetime best of 2:10.68.
Hungary's Evelyn Verraszto dropped her country's national standard, previously held by Agnes Kovacs with a 2:13.58 set at the 2004 Athens Games, when Verraszto captured silver with a time of 2:12.93.
France's Camille Muffat then held off compatriot Sophe De Ronchi, 2:13.63 to 2:14.20, for bronze.
Men's 100 free semifinals
France's Alain Bernard broke Pieter van den Hoogenband's world record in front of Hoogie's hometown crowd with an astonishing time of 47.60 in the 100 free. For complete analysis of the race, click here.
France's Fabien Gilot qualified second in 48.68, while Sweden's Stefan Nystrand took third in 48.70.
The rest of the championship heat will be filled by Croatia's Duje Draganja (48.81), Italy's Filippo Magnini (48.97), Belgium's Yoris Grandjean (49.09), Italy's Christian Galenda (49.12) and Russia's Andrey Grechin (49.17).
Women's 100 fly semifinals
Hometown favorite Inge Dekker of the Netherlands topped the 100 fly semifinal round with a swift 58.13. Meanwhile, Sweden's Sarah Sjoestroem snared second place with a time of 58.38 that destroyed Anna-Karin Kammerling's national record of 58.71 set back in 2003.
Netherlands' Chantal Groote qualified third with a time of 58.56, while France's Aurore Mongel took fourth in 58.58.
The rest of the top eight times were clocked by Slovakia's Martina Moravcova (58.88), Slovenia's Sara Isakovic (59.02), Russia's Natalia Sutyagina (59.09) and France's Alena Popchanka (59.12).
Notably, Isakovic lowered her national record of 59.16 set at last year's World Championships.
Men's 200 breast finals
Russia's Grigory Falko, Norway's Alexander Dale Oen and France's Hugues Duboscq all joined a rare club of swimmers under 2:10 in the 200 breast.
While Brendan Hansen owns the world record with a 2:08.50, Kosuke Kitajima (2:09.42) and Dimitri Komornikov (2:09.52) were the only previous members of the 2:09 club, the aforementioned top trio finished this meet in the club.
Falko broke Duboscq's meet record of 2:09.85 set during prelims with a strong time of 2:09.64 to grab the title. His effort, however, came up just short of Komornikov's national record.
Dale Oen, already having a fantastic meet, took his previous lifetime best and national record time of 2:10.08 from earlier in the meet even lower with a second-place 2:09.74.
Duboscq, meanwhile, could not replicate his 2:09.85 time with a third-place 2:09.91. However, he has now shown he can dip under 2:10 on multiple occasions.
Women's 100 back finals
After watching France's Laure Manaudou drop a 59.50 on the field for a European record during semis yesterday, Russia's Anastasia Zueva continued her jaw-dropping ascension within the stroke as she claimed the continental record with a ridiculously fast time of 59.41.
That performance is the second-fastest time ever in the event only behind Natalie Coughlin's world record effort of 59.21. It moved Zueva ahead of Kirsty Coventry into second as Coventry notched her best time of 59.42 at the All-American Long Course Invite earlier this month.
Additionally, the time gave Zueva her second under a 1:00 as she'd previously joined the sub-1:00 club with a 59.64 last month at the Russian Open Championships.
In a rare head-to-head loss, Manaudou could not duplicate her 59.50 effort from yesterday as she rocketed to a 1:00.05 for silver.
Spain's Nina Zhivanevskaya dropped her national record with a third-place time of 1:00.29. She'd previously clocked a 1:00.52 in earlier action at this meet.
Men's 200 fly finals
Greece's Ioannis Drymonakos vaulted into the second-fastest of all time in the event with a drastic drop to 1:54.16, which also whacked the European standard of 1:54.62 set by Franck Esposito of France in 2002.
Earlier in the meet, Drymonakos set the Greek record with a 1:56.29 before dropping more than two seconds to stand behind only the incomparable Michael Phelps (1:52.09) in the event.
Poland's Pawel Korzeniowski jumped into third all time with an incredible second-place swim of 1:54.38 taking Poland's national record down from the 1:54.93 he set in 2007. That jumped Korzeniowski into third all time, ahead of Takashi Yamamoto's 1:54.56 set at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.
Skvortsov placed third to capture the final medal of the event with a time of 1:54.65 to move into fifth all-time ahead of Wu Peng's 1:54.91.
Women's 200 breast semifinals
Russia's Yuliya Efimova, known as "The Pinkster" on the WCSN.com broadcasts of the FINA World Cup due to her pink cap worn during the series, cruised into lane four during finals in the longer breaststroke event with a time of 2:25.46. She will be looking to drop her national record of 2:25.23 set last summer and possibly wipe out the meet record of Agnes Kovacs set with a 2:24.90 in 1997.
Austria's Mirna Jukic qualified second with a time of 2:25.79, while Russia's Alena Alekseeva finished third in 2:26.00.
Other top eight finishers were Great Britain's Kirsty Balfour (2:27.90), Ukraine's Yuliya Pidlisna (2:27.97), Sweden's Joline Hoestman (2:29.19), Sweden's Hanna Westrin (2:30.35) and France's Coralie Dobral (2:30.36).
Notably, Pidlisna became the first sub-2:28 Ukrainian as she erased the 2:28.21 national record of Iryna Maystruk set in 2003.
Men's 50 back finals
Greece enjoyed another strong swim, this time from Aristeidis Grigoriadis as he nipped Switzerland's Flori Lang, 25.13 to 25.18, for the sprint back crown. It wasn't his best time, however, as his national record stands at 24.94 from earlier this year.
Lang did eclipse his national stand, though, as his performance wiped out the 25.34 he set last summer.
Slovakia's Lubos Krizko rounded out the medal-winners with a time of 25.44, another national record below his 25.72 set earlier this meet.
Women's 800 free relay finals
France's Laure Manaudou, Coralie Balmy, Mylene Lazare and Alena Popchanka won a barn-burner in the 800 free relay finals with a time of 7:52.09. They barely held off Great Britain's contingent of Joanne Jackson, Melanie Marshall, Ellen Gandy and Caitlin McClatchey, who finished second in 7:52.36.
Italy's team of Alice Carpanese, Federica Pellegrini, Alessia Filippi and Renata Spagnolo finished third in 7:55.69.