MADRID, May 13: Double Olympic champion Yana Klochkova claimed the 10th European long-course title of her exceptional swimming career when she retained her 200 metres individual medley crown in commanding style on Thursday.
The 21-year-old Ukrainian, who maintained her monopoly of the 400 medley on Monday, led the 200 from start to finish to embellish a remarkable record of success in European championships.
Since 1999 she has won four 200 medley, four 400 medley and two 400 freestyle golds. Klochkova won in two minutes 12.56 seconds from Hanna Shcherba of Belarus (2:15.03) and Beatrice Caslaru of Romania (2:15.70).
Klochkova's only major long-course championship individual medley defeat in the past five years came from American Maggie Bowen in the 200 event at the 2001 worlds. After three days of bitterly cold and wet weather, the sun finally shone and brought some welcome warmth to swimmers, who have had a tough time of it in the open-air pool.
"It was a very hard final," Klochkova said. "Swimming outdoors made it very difficult. I'd have swum much better if it had been indoors. I felt confident of winning, however, and I'm happy to retain my title."
Caslaru had been taken aback on arrival to discover she would be swimming outdoors. "I'm not so happy because I didn't know that it was going to be outdoors and so I trained for an indoor event," she said.
Denys Sylantyev made it two golds in quick succession for Ukraine when he won the 200 metres butterfly after finishing second three times in the last four European championships.
"I'm very surprised because my form has not been good this week and I thought others looked stronger," he said. Sylantyev, world champion back in 1998, led down the first length but trailed third at the 100-metre mark before reasserting his dominance and winning in 1:56.71, 0.11 seconds ahead of fast-finishing Romanian Ioan Gherghel. Russia's Anatoly Polyakov 2000 took the bronze in 1:57.45.
Eighteen-year-old Italian Paolo Bossini took gold in the 200 metres breaststroke, just holding off Russian Dmitry Komornikov. Bossini clocked 2:11.73 with Komornikov second in 2:12.02 and Richard Bodor of Hungary third in 2:13.27.
The race was notable for two disqualifications, Finland's Jarno Pihlava for a faulty touch at a turn and Austria's Maxim Podoprigora for a dolphin leg kick. Germany's Stev Theloke regained the men's 50 backstroke title in a tight final in which 0.10 seconds separated first from fourth.
Theloke, winner in 1999 and 2000, clocked 25.61 to touch out Darius Grigalionis of Lithuania (25.67) and David Ortega of Spain (25.69).
Double Olympic champion Pieter van den Hoogenband, who lost his 100 freestyle title to Italy's Filippo Magnini on Wednesday, looked in strong form in Thursday's 200 metres freestyle heats and semifinals, auguring well for Friday's final even though he has not tapered for Madrid.
Results:
Men's
50m backstroke
1. Stev Theloke (Germany) 25.61 seconds
2. Darius Grigalionis (Lithuania) 25.67
3. David Ortega (Spain) 25.69
200m breaststroke
1. Paolo Bossini (Italy) 2:11.73
2. Dmitry Komornikov (Russia) 2:12.02
3. Richard Bodor (Hungary) 2:13.27
200m butterfly
1. Denys Sylantyev (Ukraine) 1:56.71
2. Ioan Gherghel (Romania) 1:56.82
3. Anatoly Polyakov (Russia) 1:57.45
5 km open water
1. Fabio Venturini (Italy) 51:41.4
2. Alan Bircher (Britain) 51:55.4
3. Stefano Rubaudo (Italy) 52:11.8
Women's
200m individual medley
1. Yana Klochkova (Ukraine) 2:12.56
2. Hanna Shcherba (Belarus) 2:15.03
3. Beatrice Caslaru (Romania) 2:15.70
10 km:
1. Britta Kamrau (Germany) 1:54:24.0
2. Marta Nogues (Spain) 1:54:25.6
3. Angela Maurer (Germany) 1:54:26.0.
Diving 3m springboard
1. Yulia Pakhalina (Russia) 575.94 points
2. Vera Ilyna (Russia) 573.99
3. Olena Fedorova (Ukraine) 524.31.-Reuters
Medals table on Wednesday, tabulated under gold, silver, bronze:
Russia 6 8 2
Italy 5 3 6
Ukraine 5 1 3
Spain 3 3 2
France 3 2 2
Germany 4 3 2
Hungary 1 1 1
Netherlands 0 3 1
Slovenia 0 2 1
Austria 1 1 1
Finland 1 2 0
Slovakia 0 1 0
Romania 0 0 3
Croatia 0 0 1
Greece 0 0 2
Sweden 0 0 2