LINZ, Austria, July 13. SWIMMERS from four different countries spread the gold around on Day Three of the European Junior Championships in Linz, Austria, each winning one of the four finals contested.
In the women's 50m backstroke, Russia's Stanislava Komarova and France's Laure Manaudou swapped positions from yesterdsay's 100m backstroke final. Komarova emerged on top today, touching in 20.34 seconds – 3-hundredths faster than the old EJR set by Denmark's Louise Ornstedt in 2000. Monaudou was second in 29.45.
Germany took the women's 4 x 100m freestyle relay in 3:48.96, solidly ahead of Russia at 3:50.59.
On the men's side, Greece won its first Euro Junior crown when Ioannis Drymonakos, 18, touched first in the 200m fly in 1:59.25. Poland's Lukasz Drzewinski edged 100 fly winner Sergiy Advena of Ukraine, for the silver, 2:00.21 to 2:00.25.
Italy's Alessandro Terrin, 17, who no doubt has hopes of duplicating the double-gold performance of countryman Domenico Fioravanti at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, won the 50m breaststroke in 29.11, defeating Joakim Nielsen of Sweden at 29.24. Germany's Philipp Cool, who won the 100 yesterday, was third today in
29.28.
Meanwhile, two women broke an 18 year-old EJR in the semifinals of the 200m breaststroke. The record of 1:09.87 had been set by East Germany's Sylvia Gerasch in 1984 — well before any of today's semifinalists was even a twinkle in their parents' eyes. Today, however, it was swept away by two young women.
Austria's Mirna Jukic, who won the 200m breaststroke in a EJR 2:26.42 on Thursday, qualified first in 1:09.69. Second qualifier was Brfitain's Kate Haywood, yesterday's winner of the 50 breast (32.42), who touched in 1:09.85. The final should be one of this year's highlights.
In the men's 100m freestyle semis, Yugoslavia's (and Tustin High School's) Michael Cavic qualified first in 51.10, just two-hundredths in front of his nearest challenger. Cavic already has a gold in the 50 free (22.74) and a silver in the 100 fly (54.08).