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World records climb to six
24/03/2008 21:00 - (SA)
Eindhoven - Marleen Veldhuis and Federica Pellegrini maintained the world record
rush at the European swimming championships on Monday as the
count rose to six on the final day.
Veldhuis sped through the 50 metres freestyle in 24.09
seconds to win her third gold medal of the championships and
beat the 24.13 world mark set by her Dutch compatriot Inge de
Bruijn at the Sydney Olympics on Sept 22, 2000.
Italy's Pellegrini, who had been disqualified for a false
start in the 200 freestyle heats on Saturday, bounced back by
taking the women's 400m freestyle world record from
Olympic and world champion Laure Manaudou of France.
Pellegrini clocked four minutes 1.53sec to beat the
4:02.13 mark set by Manaudou at the last European championships
in Budapest on Aug 6, 2006.
"Of course I was a bit upset because of my disqualification
in the 200 freestyle. Today I desperately wanted to win gold but
didn't at all reckon with such a time," Pellegrini told
reporters.
Assisted at the medals ceremony
Manaudou left Eindhoven early to catch up on her Olympic
training after winning gold in the 200 backstroke and 4x200
freestyle relay and silver in the 100 backstroke.
Veldhuis anchored the Netherlands to a world record in the
4x100 freestyle relay last Tuesday and won the 100 freestyle on
Thursday.
She won the 50 by half a second from Dutch team mate
Hinkelien Schreuder, who clocked 24.59. Sweden's Therese
Alshammar, silver medallist behind De Bruijn at the 2000
Olympics, took bronze in 24.71.
De Bruijn witnessed the passing of her world record and
assisted at the medals ceremony.
"I'm now the fastest woman in the water - long and short
course," Veldhuis told reporters. "It is fantastic to compete in
front of a home crowd."
Frenchman Alain Bernard, who had broken three world records
in three days, won the men's 50 freestyle in 21.66, 0.16 seconds
outside the world mark he set in Sunday's semi-finals. He broke
the 100m world mark twice in Eindhoven.
Olympic silver medallist Duje Draganja of Croatia took
silver in the 50 in 22.00 and Sweden's world bronze medallist
Stefan Nystrand, second to Bernard in the 100 freestyle,
collected bronze in 22.16.
- Reuters
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