STOCKHOLM, Sweden, November 13. THE FINA World Cup circuit is on the back half of its run this year. With three more stops to go, FINA opened the Stockholm, Sweden stop. The local fans had a lot to cheer about as Swedish swimmers put on a show. Therese Alshammar paced the national competitors with a scintillating swim in the women's 50 free splash-and-dash as she set the World Cup record in the event.
Meanwhile, Sweden's Stefan Nystrand clocked a European record in the men's 100 free after losing a potential world record in Moscow due to a disqualification.
Women's 800 freestyle
Denmark's Lotte Friis demolished the field in the distance event with a top time of 8:20.63, just off her season-best effort of 8:18.01 set in October. Meanwhile, China's Ha Si Nan settled for silver in 8:28.10, while Canada's Chanelle Charron-Watson took bronze in 8:31.53.
Friis posted splits of 59.59, 2:02.22, 3:05.83, 4:09.19, 5:12.22, 6:15.42 and 7:18.57 along the way to victory.
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Men's 100 freestyle
Sweden's Stefan Nystrand gave the home crowd something to cheer about as he outlasted Australia's Eamon Sullivan in the 100 free. Nystrand clocked a winning time of 46.48, which improved on his season-best effort of 46.60 set at the Moscow stop and now stands as the fastest time in the world this year. Nystrand's effort moved him ahead of Italy's Filippo Magnini for the European record in the event. Magnini's previous record of 46.52 stood since the 2005 Euro Short Course Championships held in Trieste.
At several times in the race, Nystrand stood under world-record pace. He completely owned the field at the halfway mark with a 50-meter split of 21.85, in front of then second-place holder South Africa's Roland Schoeman's 22.40.
Sullivan, meanwhile, scored a silver medal with a time of 46.82 to drop under the 47-second threshold for the first time this season as his previous top time came with a 47.09 in Moscow.
Schoeman rounded out the podium with a third-place time of 47.50, just off his season-best time of 47.34 set at the Singapore World Cup stop.
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Women's 200 freestyle
Sweden enjoyed a 1-2 finish in the women's 200 freestyle event as Josefin Lillhage and Petra Grandlund both tracked won early leader Marleen Veldhuis of the Netherlands.
Lillhage threw down a strong time of 1:54.59, the second-fastest this year so far behind Libby Lenton's 1:54.22 set at the Sydney stop. Meanwhile, teammate Grandlund clocked a readout of 1:54.76, now the third-fastest time this year, to pick up second place. Veldhuis fell back to third with a time of 1:55.92.
Lillhage improved upon her 1:55.40 set in Durban, while Granlund lopped plenty of time off her previous best of 1:56.32 also in Durban.
Lillhage clocked splits of 26.48, 55.12 and 1:24.74 on her way to the win, while Granlund touched in 27.15, 56.33 and 1:25.45. Veldhuis went out fast but dropped back with splits of 25.85, 54.62 and 1:24.75.
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Men's 50 breaststroke
The Netherlands' Robin van Aggele surfaced triumphant in an exciting match-up in the men's sprint breast event. van Aggele touched first in a time of 27.19, that cut his previous season-best time of 27.35. He now stands behind only Christian Sprenger and Brenton Rickard's 27.12s as the best times this year.
South Africa's Cameron van der Burgh picked up second place with a time of 27.20, just .01 seconds behind van Aggele, while Ukraine's Oleg Lisogor, the favorite in the event as the world record holder, wound up with a bronze in 27.28.
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Women's 100 breaststroke
Russian teenager Yuliya Efimova, 15, continued her meteoric rise up the charts with another win in the women's 100 breast, this time with a readout of 1:05.41. That effort demolished her previous top time of 1:06.90 set earlier this month. The 1:05.41 also put her third in the world this year behind only Leisel Jones (1:04.37) and Jade Edmistone (1:05.18).
Sweden's own cleared out the rest of the medals as Hanna Westrin (1:07.21) and Joline Hostman (1:07.46) garnered silver and bronze, respectively.
Efimova went out fast with a time of 31.45 at the 50, while Westin sat third in 31.86 and Hostman held second in 31.65 before the back half settled the race.
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Men's 400 IM
Brazil's Thiago Pereira shattered the previous top time in the world this year in the event with a stellar time of 4:06.30 for the win. While still well off the world record of Laszlo Cseh (4:00.37) and World Cup standard of Michael Phelps (4:03.99), Pereira still wound up crushing the field in the race. He clocked splits of 56.12, 1:56.88 and 3:06.26 along the way. He time was well ahead of the previous top effort this year of 4:09.20 registered by Leith Brodie at the Australian Short Course Championships in August.
The United States' Robert Margalis provided Pereira his closest competition with a silver-winning readout of 4:10.76, while New Zealand's Dean Kent took third in 4:11.81.
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Women's 100 butterfly
The Netherlands' Inge Dekker, who previously stood fourth in the world this year with a time of 57.55 in October, cruised to victory with a winning performance of 57.10. That time moved her into second in the world this year behind only Natalie Coughlin's smoking time of 56.35 set at the Singapore stop.
Poland's Otylia Jedrzejczak cut more than a second off her season-best time of 58.98 with a second-place performance of 57.92, while China's Jiao Liu Yang completed the top three with a time of 58.07.
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Men's 100 backstroke
The United States' Randall Bal brought along some American company at this stop of the race as he kept on rolling his way towards a big $100k payday as the World Cup overall standings leader. Bal checked in with a winning effort of 51.01, well ahead of compatriot Hongzhe Sun's second-place 52.34. Bal finished a bit short of his season-best time of 50.78 set at the Sydney stop in the event. The win for Bal gave him 13 out of 13 backstroke gold medals during the series so far.
Russia's Arkady Vyatchanin, meanwhile, completed the medal winners with a third-place time of 52.59, also off his season-best time of 52.05 set at the Moscow stop this past weekend.
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Women's 50 backstroke
Germany's Daniela Samulski won a close one at the wall against Brazil's Fabiola Molina in the women's sprint back. Samulski touched in 27.52, the fourth-quickest time in the world this year, while Molina took second in 27.56.
Australia's Karina Leane wound up completing the podium with a bronze-winning time of 27.95, just ahead of Ukraine's Iryina Amshennikova, who took fourth in 27.98.
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Men's 200 butterfly
After watching Russia's Nikolay Skvortsov nearly set a world record during the Moscow stop in the event with a time of 1:50.74, it was understandable that the Stockholm start would see a drop off with Skvortsov staying home.
Poland's Pawel Korzeniowski still improved upon his second-best time in the world this year with a 1:53.19 as he dropped under 1:54 from his previous top time of 1:54.04.
China's Chen Yin joined him under 1:54 with a second-place effort of 1:53.40, while Australia's Nick D'Arcy came up just short of his season-best time of 1:54.35 with a third-place 1:54.44.
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Women's 200 IM
Poland's Otylia Jedrzejczak cut half-a-second off her best time this year with a winning readout of 2:10.06 as she threatened the 2:09 range. Jedrzejczak's previous best this year came with a 2:10.52 at the Moscow stop last weekend. She now stands third in the world this year behind Katarzyna Baranowska (2:09.63) and Shayne Reese (2:09.85).
France's Sophie de Ronchi checked in with a second-place time of 2:10.79 to move into the top five in the world this year just ahead of South Africa's Mandy Loots' 2:10.97 at the Durban stop. Loots, meanwhile, settled for third place with a time of 2:11.48.
Jedrzejczak clocked splits of 28.50, 1:01.47 and 1:40.43 along the way to a convincing triumph.
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Men's 400 freestyle
Korea's Tae Hwan Park cruised in the men's middle distance event as he had no major competition in the event. By the end of the 400 meters, Park touched first in a time of 3:42.14, well off his season-best time of 3:39.99 set at the Sydney World Cup stop. Park posted splits of 53.24, 1:49.73 and 2:46.06 on the way to the win.
Meanwhile, Australia's Nicholas Sprenger pocketed silver with a time of 3:44.25, also off his top time this year of 3:41.36, while Denmark's Mads Glaesner picked up bronze with a time of 3:45.21.
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Women's 50 freestyle
Sweden's Therese Alshammar took a big step towards overtaking idle Natalie Coughlin for the overall series lead when she dropped the hammer in the sprint free with a World Cup effort of 23.79. That time stands just .02 seconds shy of the top time this year of 23.77 set by Libby Lenton at the Australian Short Course Championships in August. However, Alshammar did eclipse Lenton's World Cup record of 23.85 set at the Sydney stop in Nov. 2005.
The Netherlands' Marleen Veldhuis improved upon her previous season-best time of 23.98 with a solid time of 23.87 for second place. Meanwhile, Alshammar's teammate Anna-Karin Kammerling grabbed third in 24.59, just ahead of teammates Josefin Lillhage (24.79) and Claired Hedenskog (24.89).
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Men's 200 breaststroke
Russia's Grigory Falko knocked half-a-second off his season-best time of 2:09.17 with a winning effort of 2:08.85 in the longer distance breaststroke event. His previous season-best came earlier this month. Falko split times of 30.02, 1:03.15 and 1:35.87 during the winning swim.
Meanwhile, Denmark's Chris Christensen settled for silver with a time of 2:09.09, while Norway's Alexander Dale Oen placed third in 2:09.29. Christensen improved on his season-best effort of 2:09.53 set in September.
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Men's 100 IM
Brazil's Thiago Pereira clocked the second time under 53-seconds in the event this year with a sterling time of 52.97 in the sprint medley event. He stands behind only Leith Brodie's 52.76 set at the Australian Short Course Championships in August.
South Africa's Gerhard Zandberg, who is going to be a busy man the next two days with a bulky meet schedule, finished second in 53.13, this third-quickest time in the world this year now as he jumped ahead of the Netherlands' Robin van Aggele's 53.34 set in June.
France's Antoine Galavtine rounded out the podium with a third-place swim of 53.76 that moved him into the top five in the world this year.
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Women's 200 backstroke
Ukraine's Iryna Amshennikova chipped away at her season-best effort with a winning readout of 2:07.30 in the distance backstroke event. Her previous top time this year came with a 2:07.39 last weekend in Moscow. Amshennikova split times of 29.70, 1:01.32 and 1:34.23 during the swim.
Australia's Karina Leane, meanwhile, picked up second-place honors with a time of 2:09.70, off her season-best time of 2:09.49, while South Africa's Jessica Pengelly took third in 2:10.06, well ahead of her 2:10.78 season-best time at the South Africa Short Course Championships in October.
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Men's 50 butterfly
South Africa's Roland Schoeman closed down the first night of swimming with the fastest time in the world this year when he blistered the pool with a time of 23.14 in the sprint fly event. Not only did he cut a bunch of time off his season-best effort of 23.45 set in Durban, he eclipsed the 23.26 posted by Matt Welsh at the Australian Short Course Championships held in August.
Ukraine's Sergiy Breus, meanwhile, touched second with a time of 23.38, now the fourth-swiftest time in the world this year behind Nikolay Skvortsov's 23.28 last weekend in Moscow. Australia's Andrew Lauterstein picked up the final medal of the night with a bronze-winning 23.40, which inched in front of his season-best time of 23.47 from the Australian Grand Prix in July.
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Special thanks to Federico Ferraro for contributing to this report.