BERLIN (AFP) — Swede Stefan Nystrand smashed two world marks as records continued to tumble on the final day of the FINA World Cup short course swimming meet here on Sunday.
Four world and three European records were broken over the two days of competition.
Nystrand lowered the 50 metres freestyle short course mark, timing 20.93sec for his second world record at the sixth leg of the FINA World Cup series.
The 26-year-old broke the old mark of 20.98sec set by South Africa's Roland Schoeman on August 12 2006 in Hamburg.
Brazilian swimmer Thiago Pereira broke the men's 200 metres medley record earlier Sunday timing 1min 53.14sec to better the 1:53.31 set by Ryan Lochte of the United States on April 7, 2006 in Shanghai.
On Saturday Nystrand had broken the 100m freestyle world record shared by American Ian Croker (achieved in March 2004) and South African Roland Schoemann (January 2005).
"My aim is to continue to progress particularly with a view to the Olympic Games where I would love to win two gold medals," said Nystrand, whose only medal to date was a silver at the 2006 European championships in Budapest.
Nystrand explained that because of his lack of previous success in competitions he drastically changed his lifestyle two years ago, going on a diet and increasing his training programme.
South Korea's Tae-Hawn Park claimed two gold medals, winning the 1500m freestyle just 15 minutes after leading the 200m freestyle.
Dutch swimmer Marleen Veldhuis won the women's 100m freestyle in an European record time of 52.14sec the day after setting a world record in the 50m freestyle.
American Dara Torres, 40, finished third in the 100m freestyle after being second behind Veldhuis in the 50m on Saturday.
Torres is hoping to become the oldest ever swimmer to compete at an Olympics in Beijing next year, where she will be 41, and would be the first swimmer to make five Olympic teams.
Meanwhile, France's Olympic champion Laure Manaudou won the 100m medley the day after claiming the 200m freestyle. She also achieved her best time in the unfamiliar 100m freestyle in which she finished sixth.
"It was a really important competition and it went very well," said Manaudou, competing for the first time in three months since her 22-year-old brother Nicolas took over as her coach.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
