MONTE CARLO, Monaco, June 16. AMERICAN Peter Vanderkaay secured an impressive victory Saturday as the Mare Nostrum Tour shifted to Monte Carlo. The Olympian from Club Wolverine prevailed in the 400-meter freestyle, with his mark of 3:48.02 supplying a comfortable triumph over Aussie legend Grant Hackett, who went 3:49.14.
Meanwhile, the comeback kid, Dara Torres, topped the 50 freestyle early-round shootouts in 25.00, good for a meet record. The 40-year-old, a four-time United States Olympian, has been superb of late while establishing herself as a contender for a trip to the Beijing Olympics. Torres bettered the Aussie duo of Alice Mills (25.38) and Jodie Henry (25.43).
Olympic champion Yana Klochkova, missing from action as a major international performer for the past couple of years, turned in a strong showing for a win in the 400 individual medley. The Ukrainian went 4:40.92 to defeat Denmark's Julie Hjorth-Hansen (4:42.87). In the 100 butterfly, Felicity Galvez edged American Dana Vollmer, 58.83 to 58.91, with Natalie Coughlin third in 59.70.
Japan's Kosuke Kitajima made it a Mare Nostrum sweep in the 200 breaststroke, thanks to a first-place effort of 2:13.08. Aussie Brenton Rickard touched second in 2:15.03. Meanwhile, South Africa's Cameron Van Der Burgh topped the 50 breast shootout qualifying in 28.26. On the female side, Tara Kirk completed a 100 breast sweep by clocking 1:07.66.
The women's 200 freestyle featured a quality duel between Sweden's Josefin Lillhage and Australian Bronte Barratt. Lillhage got to the wall first, clocking 1:58.68, with Barratt next in 1:58.80. The Japanese duo of Reiko Nakamura (2:09.93) and Hanae Ito (2:10.70) went one-two in the 200 backstroke.
Other winners on the first of two days in Monaco were Sweden's Stefan Nystrand in the 100 freestyle (48.91), Japan's Takeshi Matsuda in the 200 butterfly (1:57.01), Japan's Tomomi Morita in the 100 back (54.77) and Italy's Fedrico Turrini in the 200 I.M. (2:02.35).