March 26, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 17, 1429

EINDHOVEN (Netherlands), March 25: Marleen Veldhuis and Federica Pellegrini kept up the relentless world record rush at the European swimming championships on Monday and the overall count rose to six by the end of 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 400 metres freestyle world record from Olympic and world champion Laure Manaudou of France.

Pellegrini clocked four minutes 1.53 seconds to beat the 4:02.13 mark set by Manaudou at the last European championships in Budapest on Aug 6, 2006.

Alain Bernard, who had broken three world records in three days, was happy just to win the men’s 50 freestyle in 21.66, 0.16 seconds outside the world mark he set in Sunday’s semi-finals.

Olympic silver medallist Duje Draganja of Croatia took silver in the 50 in 22.00 and Sweden’s Stefan Nystrand, second to Bernard in the 100 freestyle, bronze in 22.16.

There were European records for Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh in the 400 individual medley and Britain’s women’s medley relay, while 13-year-old Briton Tom Daley unfurled his precocious skills on the 10-metre tower to win the platform diving crown.

Pellegrini, twice a world 200 freestyle medallist, raced away in the 400 freestyle in the absence of Manaudou, who had 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 race and assisted at Veldhuis’s medal ceremony.

She later collected a bronze medal in the women’s 4x100 medley relay behind Britain, who broke the four-minute barrier and lowered the European record to 3:59.33, and Russia.

Russia finished top of the medal heap with 12 golds and brought the championships to a rousing close, winning the men’s 4x100 medley relay from Croatia and Sweden in 3:34.25.

Olympic bronze medallist Cseh won the 400 individual medley for the third time in a row, clocking 4:09.59 to shave 0.04 seconds from his own European mark and complete an Eindhoven 200 and 400 individual medley double.

“I was not really prepared for these championships and I’m a bit surprised about my performance. Whether it will be sufficient to beat (American Olympic and world champion) Michael Phelps, we will see in Beijing,” he said.

Results of finals on Monday:

Men’s:

400 metres individual medley: 1. Laszlo Cseh (Hungary) four minutes 09.59 seconds (European record); 2. Ioannis Drymonakos (Greece) 4:14.72; 3. Luca Marin (Italy) 4:16.69; 4. Dinko Jukic (Austria) 4:17.24; 5. Alessio Boggiatto (Italy) 4:17.33; 6. Pierre Henri (France) 4:17.80; 7. Gergo Kis (Hungary) 4:18.36; 8. Vasilios Demetis (Greece) 4:23.04.

4x100 medley relay: 1. Russia (A. Vyatchanin/G. Falko/E. Korotyshkin/A. Grechin) three minutes 34.25 seconds; 2. Croatia (G. Kozulj/V. Rogulj/M. Todorovic/D. Draganja) 3:36.32; 3. Sweden (S. Sjoedin/J. Andersson/L. Froelander/S. Nystrand) 3:36.85; 4. Netherlands (N. Driebergen/T. van Valkengoed/R. van Aggele/M. Zastrow) 3:37.00; 5. Italy (M. Di Tora/A. Terrin/P. Villa/F. Magnini) 3:37.54; 6. Ukraine (O. Isakov/O. Lisogor/A. Serdinov/Y. Yegoshyn) 3:37.81; 7. Britain (M. Clay/K. Gilchrist/M. Rock/B. Hockin) 3:38.40; 8. Spain (A. Wildeboer/M. Alvarez Caraballo/R. Munoz/B. Cabello) 3:40.01.

50 metres freestyle: 1. Alain Bernard (France) 21.66 seconds; 2. Duje Draganja (Croatia) 22.00; 3. Stefan Nystrand (Sweden) 22.16; 4. Bartosz Kizierowski (Poland) 22.27; 5. Javier Noriega (Spain) 22.28; 6. Robert Lijesen (Netherlands) 22.42; 7. Sergey Fesikov (Russia) 22.70; 8. Andrey Grechin (Russia) 22.75.

Women’s:

200 metres butterfly: 1. Aurore Mongel (France)

two minutes 06.59 seconds; 2. Emese Kovacs (Hungary) 2:06.71; 3. Mireia Belmonte Garcia (Spain) 2:09.32; 4. Iana Martynova (Russia) 2:09.52; 5. Petra Granlund (Sweden) 2:10.57; 6. Zsuzsanna Jakabos (Hungary) 2:11.03; 7. Caterina Giacchetti (Italy) 2:11.37; 8. Magali Rousseau (France) 2:12.53.

400 metres freestyle: 1. Federica Pellegrini (Italy) four minutes 01.53 seconds (world record); 2. Coralie Balmy (France) 4:04.15; 3. Camelia Potec (Romania) 4:05.62; 4. Alessia Filippi (Italy) 4:09.12; 5. Erika Villaecija (Spain) 4:09.88; 6. Gabriella Fagundez (Sweden) 4:10.20; 7. Lotte Friis (Denmark) 4:10.38; 8. Flavia Rigamonti (Switzerland) 4:12.67.4x100 metres medley relay: 1. Britain (E. Simmonds/K. Haywood/J. Lowe/F. Halsall) three minutes 59.33 seconds; 2. Russia (A. Zueva/Y. Efimova/N. Soutiaguina/D. Beliakina) 4:00.47; 3. Netherlands (H. Schreuder/J. van Valkengoed/I. Dekker/M. Veldhuis) 4:04.41; 4. Sweden (C. Moeller/H. Westrin/S. Sjoestroem/C. Hedenskog) 4:05.19; 5. Ukraine (I. Amshennikova/Y. Pidslina/L. Korol/D. Stepanyuk) 4:05.72; 6. Spain (N. Zhivanevskaya/M. Belmonte Garcia/A. San Juan/M. Martinez) 4:05.98; 7. Hungary (N. Szepesi/K. Bor/E. Kovacs/E. Verraszto) 4:06.86; 8. Belgium (S. Van Hoof/E. Matthysen/K. Buys/E. Vavourakis) 4:07.54.

50 metres breaststroke: 1. Janne Schaefer (Germany) 31.08 seconds; 2. Yulia Efimova (Russia) 31.41; 3. Mirna Jukic (Austria) 31.59; 4. Kerstin Vogel (Germany) 31.72; 5. Hanna Westrin (Sweden) 31.73; 6. Moniek Nijhuis (Netherlands) 32.14; 7. Svetlana Bondarenko (Ukraine) 32.35; 8. Elena Bogomazova (Russia) 32.46.

50 metres freestyle: 1. Marleen Veldhuis (Netherlands) 24.09 seconds (world record); 2. Hinkelien Schreuder (Netherlands) 24.59; 3. Therese Alshammar (Sweden) 24.71; 4. Malia Metella (France) 24.93; 5. Anna-Karin Kammerling (Sweden) 25.23; 6. Aliaksandra Herasimenia (Belarus) 25.33; 7. Sviatlana Khakhlova (Belarus) 25.41; 8. Hanna-Maria Seppaelae (Finland) 25.44.—Reuters