BUDAPEST, Hungary, August 12. FRANCE's Camille Lacourt continued to impress during the fourth day of the European Long Course Championships by nearly becoming the first person to break a world record in the post-techsuit era.
Finals
Women's 800 free
Denmark's Lotte Friis won the head-to-head matchup of what proved to be a stellar championship field with an 8:23.27. That improved upon her third-ranked season best time of 8:23.76, but did not improve her ranking. Rebecca Adlington (8:21.25) and Katie Goldman (8:22.83) still have the two fastest times this year.
France's Ophelie Cyriell Etienne took second overall in the distance race with an 8:24.00 to move to fourth in the world, while Italy's Federica Pellegrini claimed third in 8:24.99 for seventh in the rankings.
Ireland's Grainne Murphy (8:25.04), Romania's Camelia Alina Potec (8:26.81) and Spain's Erika Villaecija Garcia (8:27.07) touched fourth through sixth, while Adlington finished a surprising seventh place with an 8:27.48. Spain's Eider Santamaria Marin pocketed eighth-place honors with an 8:42.62.
Women's 200 IM
The event came down to the wire with three swimmers finishing under the meet record of 2:10.92 set by Camille Muffat during qualifying yesterday. Hungary's Katinka Hosszu touched out compatriot Evelyn Verraszto by the slimmest of margins, 2:10.09 to 2:10.10. Both, however, came up just short of Stephanie Rice's top-ranked effort of 2:10.07 posted at the Australian Nationals in March. Great Britain's Hannah Miley took third with a 2:10.89, also under Muffat's meet record. She moved to ninth in the world with that performance.
Muffat faded into fourth place with a 2:12.04, while Spain's Mireia Belmonte Garcia (2:12.21), France's Lara Grangeon (2:14.25), Italy's Francesca Segat (2:15.08) and Denmark's Louise Jansen (2:17.37) also competed in the finale.
Men's 200 breast
Hungary's Daniel Gyurta rocketed to victory in the distance breaststroke race with a swift time of 2:08.95. That effort crushed the meet record of 2:09.64 set by Grigory Falko in 2008, and made Gyurta the first man under 2:09 this year. Norway's Alexander Dale Oen placed second in the finale with a splendid time of 2:09.68. Japan's Ryo Tateishi (2:09.21) and Yuta Suenaga (2:09.57) as well as Australia's Brenton Rickard (2:09.57) are the only other men to have cleared 2:10 this year.
France's Hugues Duboscq (2:11.03), Falko (2:11.70), Luxembourg's Laurent Carnol (2:11.93) and Italy's Edoardo Giorghetti (2:11.99) cleared 2:12 for third through sixth-place honors. Germany's Marco Koch (2:12.14) and Hungary's Akos Molnar (2:12.76) also competed in the finale.
Women's 100 back
Great Britain's Gemma Spofforth snared the European title with a time of 59.80, nearly a half-a-second slower than her third-ranked season best of 59.46 from March. Emily Seebohm (59.21) and Elizabeth Simmonds (59.43) own the fastest times this year in the event.
Simmonds wound up taking second in the head-to-heat matchup with a 1:00.19, while Germany's Jenny Mensing finished third in 1:00.72.
Spain's Mercedes Peris Minguet (1:01.06), Germany's Daniela Samulski (1:01.11), Norway's Ingvild Snildal (1:01.61), Spain's Duane Da Rocha Marce (1:01.73) and The Netherlands' Sharon Van Rouwendaal (1:01.79) placed fourth through eighth in the championship heat.
Men's 200 fly
Poland's Pawel Korzeniowski nearly became just the second man under 1:55 this year, but wound up winning the race in 1:55.00. Only Nick D'Arcy has been faster with a 1:54.61 from the Australian Nationals in March. No one even came close to Korzeniowski on the backhalf as he beat Russia's Nikolay Skvortsov (1:56.13) by more than a second. Skvortsov moved to eighth in the world with his time.
Greece's Ioannis Drymonakos finished third in 1:57.10, while Austria's Dinko Jukic earned fourth in 1:57.71.
Poland's Marcin Cieslak (1:57.93), Russia's Maxim Ganikhin (1:58.38), Italy's Nicolo Beni (1:58.67) and Greece's Stefanos Dimitriadis (1:59.70) comprised the rest of the finale field.
Men's 50 back
France's Camille Lacourt nearly became the first person to set a world record in the post-techsuit age with a blazing fast time of 24.07 in the sprint back. He just missed Liam Tancock's global standard of 24.04 set at the 2009 World Championships in Rome. Lacourt moved to second all time in the event, ahead of Junya Koga's 24.24 from Worlds as well, far surpassing his previously third-ranked effort of 24.30 from earlier this meet, which had stood as the meet record.
Tancock finished well behind for second with a 24.70, while Israel's Guy Barnea claimed third in 25.04.
Italy's Stefano Mauro Pizzamiglio (25.13), France's Jeremy Stravius (25.32), Slovakia's Lubos Krizko (25.39), Russia's Vitaly Borisov (25.49) and The Netherlands' Nick Driebergen (25.52) touched fourth through eighth.
Women's 800 free relay
Hungary gave the hometown crowd something to cheer for with an exciting finish over France. Agnes Mutina, Ezster Dara, Katinka Hosszu and Evelyn Verraszto won the distance relay with a 7:52.49, while Coralie Balmy, Ophelie Cyriell Etienne, Margaux Farrell and Camille Muffat took second in 7:52.69. Mutina had the fastest leadoff leg with a 1:57.24, while Verrastzo's anchor of 1:56.77 was the fastest relay-start leg. Great Britain's Rebecca Adlington, Jazmin Carlin, Hannah Miley and Joanne Jackson took third overall in 7:55.29.
Germany (7:58.13), Russia (7:59.11), Sweden (8:00.15), Slovenia (8:06.13) and Austria (8:10.76) also swam in the finale.
Semifinals
Men's 100 free
Russia's Evgeny Lagunov checked in with a swift 48.38 to lead the way in qualifying. The swim is just short of his top-ranked effort of 48.23. France's Alain Bernard claimed the second seed with a 48.71, while Russia's Andrey Grechin and The Netherlands' Sebastiaan Verschuren tied for third with matching 48.72s. Bernard is the second-ranked man in the world behind Lagunov with a 48.32.
France's William Meynard (48.82), Italy's Luca Dotto (48.94) and Italy's Filippo Magnini (48.97) also broke 49 seconds to take fifth, sixth and seventh. Sweden's Stefan Nystrand grabbed the final transfer spot with an eighth-seeded 49.14.
Women's 100 fly
Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom turned in a strong time of 57.36 to pace the semifinal rounds. She moved into second in the world with the time, sandwiched between Christine Magnuson (57.32) and Dana Vollmer (57.39) atop the rankings. Sweden's Therese Alshammar qualified second in 57.55 to move to fourth in the world, while Denmark's Jeanette Ottesen finished third in 57.94 to earn seventh in the world rankings.
Great Britain's Fran Halsall (58.35), Israel's Amit Ivri (58.64), Portugal's Sara Freitas Oliveira (58.76), France's Aurore Mongel (58.84) and Hungary's Eszter Dara (58.99) also qualified for the championship heat.
Women's 200 breast
Russia's Anastasia Chaun raced to the top seed in the distance breast with a time of 2:25.66. That time moved her to 12th in the world rankings. Denmark's Rikke Moeller Pedersen qualified second in 2:26.08.
Norway's Sara Nordenstam (2:26.14), Sweden's Joline Hostman (2:27.29), Italy's Chiara Boggiatto (2:27.98), Great Britain's Stacey Tadd (2:28.11), Slovenia's Tanja Smid (2:28.21) and Serbia's Nadja Higl (2:28.28) earned the rest of the lanes in the championship heat.