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50m Freestyle record tumbles
23/03/2008 21:03 - (SA)
Eindhoven, Netherlands - Alain Bernard broke the world record in the 50m freestyle on Sunday for his third world mark in three days at the European swimming championships.
The Frenchman swam 21.50 seconds to beat the time of 21.56 set last month by Eamon Sullivan of Australia, who lowered Alexander Popov's previous record of 21.64 set in Moscow on June 16, 2000.
Bernard set a world record of 47.50s to win the 100 freestyle final on Saturday. That took one-tenth of a second off the record of 47.60 he swam on Friday in the semi-finals to shatter Pieter van den Hoogenband's old mark set at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
On Sunday, Bernard easily beat Stefan Nystrand of Sweden, who finished in 22.12 in their second semi-final to be third fastest into the final.
After touching the wall and looking up at the scoreboard to see his time, Bernard took his now familiar perch on the lane ropes, punched the air and pointed to his coach, who cheered with him.
Earlier on Sunday, in a sign of things to come, Bernard cruised to the wall in 21.97 to qualify fastest for the semi-finals.
Duje Draganja of Croatia also swam under 22s on Sunday, winning the first semi-final in 21.94.
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