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November th, 2009--
Click here for complete results, including preliminary heats, from Omega Timing.

At every stop along the 2009 FINA Swimming World Cup, the athletes have taken the level of competition to a new, even more astronomical level.

In the most impressive day yet, competitors broke 5 more World Records, bringing the 2009 total to 113. There were 108 World Records set in 2008, but the staggering number broken this year is even more impressive given that it is a post-Olympic year. Michael Phelps, who finished fifth in the men’s 200m butterfly in his only final, did not break any of them.

The first record of the day was set by South African Cameron van der Burgh. He broke his own World Record in the 50m breaststroke by going a blistering 25.25. The old mark, which was also held by van der Burgh, was a 25.43 set back in August of this year. Van der Burgh had been threatening this mark throughout the series, as he twice broke the World Cup record.

In the very next event, the women’s 100m breaststroke, there was not one, but two swimmers that went well under the World Record. Australian star Leisel Jones, who was the incumbent holder of the mark, won the event in 1:03.00. This time broke her old best of 1:03.72. American Jessica Hardy, who just missed grabbing the record by .03 at the Moscow meet, went a 1:03.30 in what on any other day would’ve been an astonishing mark. Hardy, who specializes in the shorter 50m breaststroke, had a lead of .56 seconds at the halfway point, but Jones used her great closing speed to catch and pass Hardy for a comfortable win. Jones seems to have regained her form after an unknown virus caused her to miss the Durban meet.

German Paul Biedermann provided quite a thrill for the home crowd in what is often a less-than-exciting event. Biedermann, in his first meet back after recovering from a thigh injury, was absolutely stunning in the 400m freestyle. Biedermann’s time of 3:32.77 wiped out Grant Hackett’s old record of 3:34.58. Hackett’s Time was set back in 2002, well before any mention of high-tech polyurethane suits. With this record, there are only 5 records that have withstood the challenge of the super-suits, and 4 of them are in the same distance:

• Grant Hackett, Australia, LCM 1500 freestyle, July 29, 2001: 14:34.56
• Katie Ziegler, USA, LCM 1500 freestyle, June 17, 2007: 15:42.54
• Grant Hackett, Australia, SCM 1500 freestyle, August 7, 2001: 14:10.10
• Kate Ziegler, USA, SCM 1500 freestyle, October 12, 2007: 15:32.90
• László Cseh, Hungary, SCM 400 I.M., December 14, 2007: 3:59.33

Russian Sergey Fesikov broke the 100m I.M. World Record in the preliminaries to pick up a 20 point bonus, but couldn’t match the time in finals to pick up another. His time of 50.95 broke the old record of 51.15 held by American Ryan Lochte. In finals, he just missed out on breaking the record again by finishing in 50.96. South Africa’s Gehrard Zandberg finished second in 51.05, which would have been a World Record coming into the day.

The last two World Records broken in Berlin were broken in the last two events. First was Japan’s Shiho Shakai in the 200m backstroke. Her time of 2:00.18 easily surpassed the old mark by Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe at 2:00.91.

Immediately after Shakai’s swim, German Steffen Deibler broke the World Record in the 50m fly. He and Roland Schoeman both surpassed the old mark of 22.06, which Deibler set in October. Deibler touched in a 21.80, and Schoeman was just behind I n a 21.87. Because Schoeman technically never broke the record, he receives neither the bonus points, nor a cash reward for his swim.

Denmark’s Lotte Friis Broke a World Cup record for the second straight meet in the 800m free. Her time of 8:04.61 was well under her old mark of 8:07.94, and just .08 off of Alesia Filippi’s global mark.

In an exciting come from behind victory in the women’s 100m fly, Australian Felicity Galvez was in 8th place at the 50m turn, and came all the way back to win the even in 55.62. The victims of her comeback were France's Diane Bui Duyet, who placed second in 55.84, and Jeanette Olson of Denmark, who finished third.

The men’s 100m backstroke was probably the most exciting race of the night, with only .13 seconds separating 1st place from 4th place. Aschwin Wildeboer of Spain finished first in 49.55; American Peter Marshall was second in 49.65; Russian Arkady Vyatchanin of Russia was third in 49.66; and Stanislav Donets was fourth in 49.68.

Other event winners on Day 1 were: Canada’s Brent Hayden in the men’s 100m freestyle in 45.56; Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom in the women’s 200m free in 1:53.77; South Africa’s Chad Le Clos in the men’s the men’s 400m I.M. in 4:02.18; Australia’s Marieke Guehrer in the women’s 50m back in 26.09; Russia's Nikolay Skvortsov in the men’s 200m fly in 1:50.58; China’s Li Jiaxing in the women’s 200m I.M. in 2:07.34; Sweden’s Therese Alshammar in a World Cup Record in the women’s 50m freestyle in 23.34; and Spain's Melquiades Alvarez in the men’s 200m breaststroke in 2:02.67.

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