SABADELL, Spain, April 18. TWO European records have fallen at the Spanish Short Course National Cup held in Sabadell over the past two days. Caraballo Alvarez and Aschwin Wildeboer both clocked continental records at the meet so far.
Alvarez touched out former national-record holder Sergio Garcia, 2:03.46 to 2:03.56, in the men's 200 breast. Not only did both times demolish the Spanish record of 2:06.94 set by Garcia in December 2008, they also crushed Hugues Duboscq's European standard of 2:04.59 also set in December. Both times are closest anyone has come in quite some time to Ed Moses' world record of 2:02.92 set in 2004.
During a 200 medley relay leadoff, Wildeboer clipped his European record in the men's 50 back with a time of 23.12. The swim beat his former record of 23.14 by .02 that he set in December. The effort also inched him closer to Randall Bal's world record of 22.87 from November.