ANTWERP, Belgium, May 1. JOLIEN Sysmans lowered her Belgian record in the women's 100 free during the first night of competition at the Belgian Long Course National Championships.
Sysmans clocked a time of 55.78 in the event to clear her former record of 55.97 set in July 2008. Sascha van den Branden placed second in 56.13, while Emily Vavourakis took third in 56.58.
Kimberly Buys followed in the women's 100 fly with a winning time of 59.32. While quicker than the stated national record of 59.49 on the results, Buys actually set the record with a 58.77 back in January. Charlotte Parent took second in 1:02.03, while Iryna Niafedava finished third in 1:02.55. The men's 200 free provided an exciting finish. Glenn Surgeloose (1:49.69) held off Stef Verachten (1:49.91) and Yoris Grandjean (1:49.99) for the win.
Belarus' Svetlana Khokhlova raced to the win in the women's 50 back with a time of 28.97, while Belgian Silke Van Hoof touched second in 29.47. Belarus' Aleksandra Kovaleka pocketed third in 29.69. Meanwhile, Julien Hanot picked up the men's 50 breast title in 29.04 with Pierre-Antoine Meunier (29.31) and Wim Goris (29.95) taking second and third.
Elise Matthysen next won the women's 200 breast in 2:29.52, while Fanny LeCluyse finished second in 2:31.47 and Stephanie Verschueren rounded out the top three in 2:35.64. The men's 200 fly crown went to Mathieu Fonteyn with a 1:58.61, while Francois Heersbrandt (2:00.42) and Gino Stevenheydens (2:01.78) took second and third.
Bastien Soret walked away with the men's 400 IM title in 4:33.04, while Michael Robbe placed second in 4:33.66. Raf Vandevelde earned third in 4:41.12. The women's 400 IM title went to Laura Deconinck with a 5:00.19. Jolien Vermeylen (5:06.58) and Yne Dom (5:07.94) finished second and third.
Bruno Claeys touched in 2:03.79 to grab the men's 200 back triumph, while Sander Helderweirt (2:06.75) and Mathias Vervloet (2:08.45) placed second and third.
In distance free swimming, Tom Vangeneugden won the men's 800 free in 7:58.18, while Manon Lammens took the women's 1500 free title in 17:16.35.