Posted at 9:59 a.m., Saturday, December 15, 2007
Swimming: Croatia's Javanovic sets world 50 back mark
Associated Press
DEBRECEN, Hungary — Sanja Jovanovic of Croatia set a new world record in the women's 50-meter backstroke at the European Short Course Swimming Championships on Saturday with a time of 26.50 seconds.Hui Li of China held the previous mark of 26.83, set Dec. 2, 2001, in Shanghai, China.
"I still can't believe that I set a new world record. I thought I could win but I did not expect a world record," said Jovanovic, who finished second in the 100 backstroke Friday.
Germany also set a world record in the women's 4x50 medley relay, with Janine Pietsch, Janne Schaefer, Annika Mehlhorn and Britta Steffen finishing in 1 minute, 46.67 seconds.
The Netherlands' team of Hinkelien Schreuder, Moniek Nijhuis, Inge Dekker and Magdalena Veldhuis held the previous mark of 1:47.44, set Dec. 10, 2005, in Trieste, Italy.
Two championship records were also set Saturday.
Alain Bernard of France completed the men's 100 freestyle in 46.39 to break the previous record of 46.52 set by Filippo Magnini of Italy in 2007.
Magnini finished third Saturday behind Bernard and Sweden's Stefan Nystrand.
Yuliya Efimova of Russia set the other championship record by clocking 1:05.56 in a semifinal of the women's 100 breaststroke.
The previous mark of 1:05.56 was set by Anna Khlistunova of Ukraine in Helsinki last year.
Hungary's Laszlo Cseh won his third gold medal of the competition — and the first in which he failed to set a world record — winning the 200 butterfly in 1:51.55, ahead of Pawel Korzeniowski of Poland and Ioannis Drymonakos of Greece.
Cseh set world marks in the 400 and 200 individual medleys.
Frenchwoman Laure Manaudou won her second gold medal in Debrecen in the 400 freestyle, clocking 3:57.43 to finish ahead of Federica Pellegrini of Italy and Hungary's Agnes Mutina.
