The number in (parenthesis) indicates swimmer’s position in the World Cup Standings prior to the Moscow meet.

The Moscow, Russia stop of the 2009 World Cup wrapped up today with the completion of day 2, and the breaking of three more World Records, on top of the three that were broken in day 1.

American Jessica Hardy (2nd) took down her 4th World Record in as many months since returning from a year-long suspension for testing positive for the banned substance Clenbuterol. This time, she broke the 50m breaststroke mark that she also broke at the Durban meet. Her time of 29.36 was simply astounding, and cleared the field by nearly a full second. Australian Leisel Jones, who is one of the world’s top breaststrokers, finished second at 30.30. Jones appeared to struggle with her fitness even in this short race, which is not unexpected given that she missed a lot of pool time last month due to an illness that hospitalized her. Russia’s Daria Deeva took 3rd place just behind Jones in 30.38.

Evgeny Korotyshkin of Russia took down one of the oldest records on the book when he became the first person to ever go under 49 seconds in the 100m fly. His time of 48.99 broke Ian Crocker’s old mark of 49.07. Crocker’s mark had stood since 2004: a rarity in the age of high-tech suits. Crocker’s old mark would’ve been one of only 6 in the world that would have survived the onslaught by polyurethane suits if it had lasted 6 weeks longer, when the new suit regulations go into effect. As it is, there are only 5 such standards that have survived.

Korotyshkin was well off of the World Record pace headed into the final 50 meters, but used incredible finishing speed to clip Crocker’s record. The following is a comparison of Korotyshkin’s splits versus Crocker’s:

Korotyshkin: 23.07, 48.99 (25.92)
Crocker: 22.76, 49.07 (26.31)

Korotyshkin was trailed in second by South African Lyndon Ferns who shattered his own South African national record in 50.19, and Nikolay Skvortsoy of Russia, who finished in 50.35

The third World Record of the day was the most unexpected. In the last men’s event of the day, the 200m backstroke, South African George Du Rand (8th) crushed the old world record of 1:47.84 when he when went a 1:47.08. The reason the swim was a surprise is that Du Rand cut nearly 2.5 seconds off of his own personal best that was set only a few weeks ago in Durban.

In addition, there were several other World Cup Records set on Day 2. Brazil's Joanna Maranhao-Melo snuck by the old mark in the women’s 200 fly in a 2:04.01. The old record was 2:04.04, and had stood since 2004.

In the men’s “Splash-And-Dash”, the 50m freestyle, Roland Schoeman (1st) of South Africa set a World Cup Record at 20.88. The old mark was held by Stefan Nystrand at 20.93, who got a good view of the record-breaking swim as he finished third in the race.

Cameron van der Burgh (3rd) completed the sweep of the breaststroke events for South Africa when he set a World Record in the 100m breaststroke in 56.36. This time broke his own record of 56.88

Two sprint events provided the most exciting finishes of the day. In the women’s 50m fly, Therese Alshammar (1st) of Sweden outtouched Australian Marieke Guehrer (3rd), who set the World Record in the 50m backstroke on day 1. Alshammar’s time was 25.10, and Guehrer’s was 25.12.

As close as that race was, the men’s 50m backstroke was even closer. American Peter Marshall (2nd) and Russian Stanislav Donets tied for first with a time of 22.94. That was still off of the World Record time which Marshall set last month.

One of the best stories on the day was when Pál Joensen, a 19-year old from the tiny nation of the Faroe Islands, set a personal best in the men’s 1500m freestyle at 14:32.64. The Faroe Islands has a population of just fewer than 50,000, and has never fielded their own Olympic team. Joensen, who trains in a nation that does not even have a long course pool, will certainly be one of the major media darlings at the 2012 Summer Olympics, when he is hitting the prime of his swimming career.

Other event winners were Denmark’s Jeanette Ottesen, who won the women’s 100m freestyle in 52.22; Russia’s Alexander Sukhorukov, who won the men’s 200m freestyle in 1:42.13; Russia's Kseniya Moskvina, who won the women’s 100m backstroke in 56.66; South Africa's Darian Townsend (7th), who won the men’s 200m I.M. in 1:52.93; Denmark's Lotte Friis, who won the women’s 400m freestyle in 4:01.96; Denmark's Rikke Moeller, who won the women’s 200m breaststroke in 2:19.58; and The Netherlands' Hinkelien Schreuder (4th), who won the women’s 100m I.M. in 58.88;