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MELBOURNE, Dec 9: Geoff Huegill swam within 0.27 seconds of his second world short-course record in two days as he won the men’s 100 metres butterfly final at the World Cup meeting in Melbourne Sunday.
Huegill’s time of 50.71 beat his own Commonwealth record of 51.04 set in Edmonton last month.
Huegill’s awkward lunge to finish the race helped keep Sweden’s Olympic champion Lars Frolander in the record books as the world’s fastest over the short-course distance.
American Ed Moses, winner of the 100 and 200 metres breaststroke at the three-day meeting, the fifth in the nine-venue World Cup series, said he was confident he could overtake Huegill for the $US50,000 prize for the male swimmer with the highest points score in the series.
Huegill set the pace with his 50 metres butterfly short-course world record time of 22.84 seconds on Saturday, shaving 0.03 seconds off Briton Mark Foster’s record set in Sheffield, England, in January 2001.
Huegill beat Australian arch rival Michael Klim (51.77) by more than a second Sunday.
Sunday’s results:
WOMEN’S:
200 metres butterfly: 1. Yana Klochkova (Ukraine) 2 minutes 09.30 seconds; 2. Felicity Galvez (Australia) 2.10.09; 3. Heidi Crawford (Australia) 2.11.05.
50 metres breaststroke: 1. Zoe Baker (Britain) 30.61 seconds; 2. Amanda Beard (US) 30.89; 3. Brooke Hanson (Australia) 31.20.
200 metres freestyle: 1. Elka Graham (Australia) 1:56.12; 2. Lindsay Benko (US) 1:56.21; 3. Rada Owen (US) 1:57.19.
200 metres individual medley: 1. Amanda Beard (US) 2:10.67; 2. Yana Klochkova (Ukraine) 2:11.57; 3. Jennifer Reilly (Australia) 2:13.21.
50 metres backstroke: 1. Janine Pietsch (Germany) 28.00; 2. Diane Bui Duyet (France) 28.39; 3. Charlene Wittstock (South Africa) 28.43.
MEN’S:
100 metres butterfly: 1. Geoff Huegill (Australia) 50.71 seconds (Commonwealth record); 2. Michael Klim (Australia) 51.77; 3. Leon Dunne (Australia) 53.46.
200 metres breaststroke: 1. Ed Moses (US) 2:07.59; 2. Jim Piper (Australia) 2:09.15; 3. Simon Cowley (Australia) 2:11.01.
50 metres freestyle: 1. Jason Lezak (US) 21.75; 2. Aaron Ciarla (US) 22.09; 3. Ashley Callus (Australia) 22.21.
400 metres individual medley: 1. Justin Norris (Australia) 4:11.15; 2. Grant McGregor (Australia) 4:12.23; 3. Dean Kent (New Zealand) 4:12.83.
100 metres backstroke: 1. Toni Helbig (Germany) 53.26; 2. Sebastian Halgasch (Germany) 53.51; 3. Beau Mannix (Australia) 53.72.
1,500 metres freestyle: 1. Daniel Kowalski (Australia) 15:03.33; 2. Craig Stevens (Australia) 15:04.28; 3. Nicola Selleri (Italy) 15:33.88.—Reuters
