SAINT PETERSBURG, Russia, December 20. THE Russian foursome of Stanislav Donets, Evgeny Korotyshkin, Danila Izotov and Sergey Geybel lowered the men's 400 medley relay world record during the second day of the Salnikov Cup in Russia.
The short course meter event has featured some of the top swimmers that chose not to compete at the Duel in the Pool. The Russian team clocked a time of 3:19.16 to break the world record set by the U.S. quartet of Nick Thoman, Mark Gangloff, Michael Phelps and Nathan Adrian at the Duel two days ago. The U.S. posted a time of 3:20.71.
An all star team made up of Aschwin Wildeboer Faber, Gerhard Zandberg, Cameron van der Burgh and Fred Bousquet finished second in 3:24.56.
Splits from the world record performance have not been made available yet.
Meanwhile, Izotov won the men's 100 free the first day with a 45.71, while Evgeny Lagunov took second in 45.81. Fred Bousquet placed third in 45.88. Alexander Trizna claimed the men's 50 breast in 26.54, while Stanislav Lahtyuhov placed second in 26.61.
Dmitry Gorbunov touched first in the men's 200 IM with a 1:54.52, just beating Alexander Tikhonov, who finished second in 1:54.87. Arkady Vyatchanin walked away with the men's 100 back title in 49.43. He emerged from a stacked finale that featured Aschwin Wildeboer Faber (49.47), Donets (49.64) and Randall Bal (51.98).
Nikolay Skvortsov won the men's 200 fly going away with a 1:50.53, while Paul Biedermann checked in with a winning time of 3:37.20 in the men's 400 free. Grigory Falko snatched the men's 200 breast crown in 2:03.41, while Sergey Fesikov claimed the men's 100 IM in 51.18. Korotyshkin completed the first day for the men with a 22.37 in the men's 50 fly.
The women also put up some quick times on day one. Victoria Malyutina touched out Darya Belyakina 1:55.22 to 1:55.31, in the women's 200 free. Veronika Popova placed third in 1:55.69. Rikke Pedersen Moeller cruised in the women's 100 breast with a winning time of 1:04.21.
Jeanette Ottesen snatched the women's 100 fly title in 56.25 with Inge Dekker taking second in 56.82. Hinkelien Schreuder then beat Dekker in the women's 50 free, 23.83 to 23.94. Therese Alshammar wound up third in 23.97. Kseniya Moskvina claimed the women's 200 back in 2:02.89.
Lotte Friis completed the first day for the women with a dominant effort in the women's 800 free. She stopped the clock in 8:20.89.
The second day, which featured the aforementioned world record in the medley relay to complete the day, also had some other fast swims. Bousquet won the men's 50 free in 20.52. Fesikov placed second in 20.83. Alexander Sukhorukov picked up the men's 200 free victory in 1:42.06, while Artem Lobuzov touched second in 1:42.44.
Meanwhile, Mads Glaesner turned in a 14:36.00 to capture the men's 1500 free, while Donets beat Faber, 22.97 to 23.13, in the men's 50 back. Vyatchanin wound up winning the men's 200 back in 1:46.75, while Cameron van der Burgh grabbed the men's 100 breast title in 57.15. Geybel finished second in 57.20 with Falko taking third in 57.30. Korotyshkin threatened his world record in the men's 100 fly with a 48.67.
Ottesen clocked a swift 51.90 to win the women's 100 free, while Friis took the women's 400 free title in 4:03.68. Moskvina snatched the women's 100 back crown in 56.76, while Pedersen Moeller turned in a 30.18 in the women's 50 breast. Darya Deeva finished second in 30.85.
Nadja Higl pocketed the women's 200 breast with a 2:17.72, while Alshammar earned the women's 50 fly title in 24.77. Popova put together a 2:07.61 to win the women's 200 fly, while Schreuder hit the wall in 58.98 to win the women's 100 IM. Belyakina closed out the women's side of the meet with a 2:08.50 to win the 200 IM. Malyutina placed second in 2:08.81, while Svetlana Karpeeva finished third in 2:08.83.