SZCZECIN, Poland, December 11. THE final day of racing at the European Short Course Championships produced a textile best, and several other all-time ranked swims, to cap an epic weekend of swimming in Poland.
Women's 400 IM finals
Spain's Mireia Belmonte Garcia continued her remarkable meet with a sterling meet-record time of 4:24.55. That swim smashed the top-ranked time of 4:29.65 clocked by Zsuzsanna Jakabos at the Stockholm stop of the World Cup, and bettered Belmonte Garcia's meet record of 4:25.06 from 2008. It also just missed Belmonte Garcia's textile best, which stands as the Spanish record of 4:24.21. That's the third-ranked time ever behind Julia Smit (4:21.04) and Kathryn Meaklim (4:22.88) from the techsuit era. Tonight's effort tied for sixth all time with Ye Shiwen's Chinese record. Belmonte Garcia now has three of the top 10 times ever, including tonight's swim, her previous meet record from 2008 and the textile best.
Great Britain's Hannah Miley raced to second in 4:26.06 for second in the world rankings this year as well, while Jakabos touched third in 4:27.86 to also crush her previous best and move to 12th all time in the rankings. Miley already ranks fifth all time with a 4:24.51 to her credit.
Czech's Barbora Zavadova (4:28.21), Austria's Joerdis Steinegger (4:35.55), Italy's Alessia Polieri (4:36.27), Spain's Claudia Dasca Romeu (4:36.35), Finland's Tanja Kylliaeinen (4:36.96), Poland's Karolina Szczepaniak (4:37.44) and The Netherlands' Lieke Verouden (4:42.26) posted the other finishes.
Men's 200 breast finals
Hungary's Daniel Gyurta shot down the textile best in the distance breaststroke with a 2:02.37 for the victory. That swim eclipsed the 2:02.92 set by Ed Moses back in 2004, and is less than two seconds back of Gyurta's world record of 2:00.67 from the techsuit era. Tonight's performance stands third all time behind the world record and Christian Sprenger's 2:01.98 from 2009.
Russia's Vyacheslav Sinkevich posted a second-place time of 2:03.61 to move to 12th all time, while Great Britain's Michael Jamieson earned third-place honors tonight in 2:03.77 for 15th in the all time rankings.
Germany's Marco Koch (2:04.41), Russia's Oleg Kostin (2:06.13), Norway's Alexander Dale Oen (2:06.15), Great Britain's Andrew Willis (2:06.32), Hungary's Akos Molnar (2:07.72), Luxembourg's Laurent Carnol (2:07.96) and Israel's Gal Nevo (2:10.47) rounded out the championship heat.
Women's 200 free finals
Germany's Silke Lippok raced to victory in the event with a 1:54.08 to 1:54.31 triumph ahead of Spain's Melania Costa Schmid. Lippok jumped from 11th in the world this year to sixth, while Costa Schmid moved to seventh. Hungary's Evelyn Verraszto clocked a third-place 1:54.55 for ninth in the rankings as well.
Great Britain's Rebecca Turner (1:54.84), The Netherlands' Rieneke Terink (1:55.70), Norway's Cecilie Johannessen (1:55.95), Bulgaria's Nina Rangelova (1:56.11), Denmark's Lotte Friis (1:57.14), Great Britain's Anne Bochmann (1:57.60) and The Netherlands' Elise Bouwens (1:57.74) made up the rest of the finale.
Men's 100 IM finals
Slovenia's Peter Mankoc won the sprint medley in 52.70, taking fifth in the world rankings this year. Germany's Markus Deibler placed second in 53.04 for eighth overall, while Estonia's Martti Aljand clocked a third-place 53.37 for 13th.
Austria's Martin Spitzer (53.49), Russia's Dmitry Zhilin (53.53), Poland's Jakub Jasinski (53.94), Denmark's Daniel Skaaning (54.37), Portugal's Diogo Carvalho (54.37), Israel's Yakov Yan Toumarkin (54.55) and Russia's Viacheslav Andrusenko (54.67) finished third through 10th.
Women's 100 fly finals
Denmark's Jeanette Ottesen edged Great Britain's Jemma Lowe, 56.22 to 56.67, for the 100 fly title. Ottesen moved to third in the world this year behind Therese Alshammar (55.62) and Lu Ying (56.05). Lowe leaped to sixth behind Ottesen, Yuka Kato (56.37), and Jiao Liuyang (56.60). Italy's Ilaria Bianchi finished third tonight in 57.42 to move into the top 15.
France's Diane Bui Duyet (58.05), Belarus' Aliaksandra Herasimenia (58.20), Russia's Irina Bespalova (58.23), Austria's Birgit Koschischek (58.36), Germany's Franziska Hentke (58.41), Poland's Otylia Jedrzejczak (58.52) and Israel's Amit Ivri (58.65) collected the rest of the championship finishes.
Men's 200 free finals
Germany's Paul Biedermann clinched the continental title in 1:42.92, coming up short of his top-ranked 1:42.42 from the Berlin stop of the World Cup circuit. Italy's Filippo Magnini snared second in 1:43.20, just .28 seconds behind, to move to second in the world rankings ahead of Michael Phelps' 1:43.31 from the Moscow stop. Hungary's Laszlo Cseh wound up third tonight in 1:43.71 for sixth in the rankings.
Poland's Pawel Korzeniowski (1:43.89), The Netherlands' Joost Reijns (1:44.21), Russia's Alexander Sukhorukov (1:44.75), Russia's Mikhail Polishchuk (1:45.08), Denmark's Mads Glaesner (1:45.19), Germany's Robin Backhaus (1:45.91) and Switzerland's Dominik Meichtry (1:46.28) placed fourth through 10th.
Women's 100 breast finals
Russia's Valentina Artemyeva clipped Denmark's Rikke Moeller Pedersen, 1:05.19 to 1:05.23, for the continental title. Artemyeva moved up to third in the world rankings behind Leisel Jones (1:04.02) and Liu Xiaoyu (1:04.79), while Pedersen took fourth overall. Russia's Daria Deeva finished third in 1:05.83 for 10th in the world rankings this year.
Sweden's Joline Hostman (1:07.03), Italy's Chiara Boggiatto (1:07.41), France's Sophie De Ronchi (1:07.43), France's Coralie Dobral (1:07.50), Czech's Martina Moravcikova (1:07.76), Belgium's Fanny Lecluyse (1:07.89) and Italy's Lisa Fissneider (1:07.99) rounded out the championship heat.
Men's 100 back finals
Poland's Radoslaw Kawecki earned a hometown round of applause with a 50.43 to 50.61 conquest of Spain's Aschwin Wildeboer Faber. Kawecki improved his season-ranked season best of 50.67, but could not overcome Wildeboer Faber's top-ranked 50.23 from the Berlin World Cup stop. Belarus' Pavel Sankovich snared third tonight in 51.14 to move to sixth in the world rankings.
Germany's Jan-Philip Glania (51.65), Spain's Juan Miguel Rando Galvez (51.77), Germany's Christian Diener (52.03), Italy's Micro Di Tora (52.53), Switzerland's Flori Lang (52.65), Hungary's Peter Bernek (52.68) and Italy's Matteo Milli (52.74) wrapped up the finale.
Women's 200 back finals
Ukraine's Daryna Zevina set a meet record in the distance dorsal with a 2:02.25. That swim pushed her to third in the world rankings behind Missy Franklin's world record 2:00.03 and Belinda Hocking's 2:01.24 from earlier in the year. All-time, Zevina improved to eighth in the world rankings, breaking her Ukrainian record of 2:02.85 from the Berlin World Cup stop earlier this year.
Spain's Duane Da Rocha Marce claimed second tonight in 2:03.32 for 21st in the all time rankings, and seventh in the seasonal rankings. Ireland's Melanie Nocher rounded out the podium with a third-place 2:04.29.
Germany's Jenny Mensing (2:05.48), Slovenia's Anja Carman (2:05.53), Bulgaria's Ekaterina Avramova (2:06.38), Czech's Simona Baumrtova (2:06.57), The Netherlands' Wendy van den Zanden (2:07.34), Poland's Alicja Tchorz (2:07.88) and Italy's Roberta Ioppi (2:08.02) placed fourth through 10th.
Men's 50 fly finals
Ukraine's Andriy Govorov gave his nation back-to-back wins with a 22.70. That swim jumped him to third in the rankings this year behind Geoff Huegill (22.67) and Ryo Tateishi (22.68). France's Amaury Leveaux took second in 22.74 for fourth in the rankings, while Poland's Konrad Czerniak finished third tonight in 22.77 for fifth in the rankings.
Russia's Nikita Konovalov (22.83), Belgium's Francois Heersbrandt (22.98), Spain's Rafael Munoz (23.09), Great Britain's Antony James (23.14), Germany's Steffen Deibler (23.16), Croatia's Mario Todorovic (23.28) and The Netherlands' Joeri Verlinden (23.32) picked up the other final finishes.
Women's 50 free finals
Germany's Britta Steffen clocked a 24.01 for the splash-and-dash triumph. That bettered her third-ranked 24.07 from the Berlin World Cup stop, but fell short of Therese Alshammar (23.67) and Cate Campbell (23.93). Denmark's Jeanette Ottesen finished second in 24.11 for fourth in the rankings, while Estonia's Triin Aljand claimed third in 24.23 for a top 10 spot.
Belarus' Sviatlana Khakhlova (24.28), Germany's Dorothea Brandt (24.28), Great Britain's Amy Smith (24.43), Poland's Aleksandra Urbanczyk (24.62), Denmark's Pernille Blume (24.70), Russia's Margarita Nesterova (24.95) and Italy's Erika Ferraioli (24.97) completed the top 10.
Men's 200 free relay
Italy's Luca Dotto, Marco Orsi, Federico Bocchia and Andrea Rolla won the final race of the meet with a 1:24.82. Russia's Sergey Fesikov, Evgeny Lagunov, Andrey Grechin and Nikita Konovalov placed second in 1:25.11 led by Fesikov's 21.21 lead leg. Belgium's Francois Heersbrandt, Emmanuel Van Luchene, Louis Croenen and Jasper Aerents took third in 1:25.83.
Germany (1:26.55), Czech Republic (1:27.03), Swizterland (1:27.20), Great Britain (1:28.28) and Sweden (1:28.89) made up the top eight.