The third leg of the 2003/2004 FINA Swimming World Cup got underway in a sunny, hot and humid Durban on Friday as Swimming South Africa staged the first ever FINA event in the Republic of South Africa.

The event got underway to much fanfare with a show of traditional Zulu Impi dancing, prior to the arrival of the guest of honour, deputy mayor of Durban, Clr Logie Naidoo, who stole the show, arriving on a rickshaw. After a short round of speeches and a performance of the famous traditional mine workers "gumboot dance", the serious business of racing got underway.

With Ryk Neethling adding distance to his preparations, the 400m freestyle was always going to be a crackerjack affair. In the morning heats Chad Carvin, the USA "comeback kid", was pushed by promising local hope, Troyden Prinsloo and as a result Neethling and Romanian Dragos Coman were relegated to the outside lanes.

Carvin went out hard, however Neethling and Coman lurked, while another promising local youngster, Mark Randall swimming in lane 1, was putting in a great effort. With a hundred meters to go Carvin had the race in the bag, while Coman was comfortably looking at a silver, however Neethling dug deep and produced an awesome final 100m to snatch the silver in the death.

The laid back Carvin claimed the gold in 3:42,91 while Neethling was satisfied with his 3:43,79. Coman had to settle for bronze in 3:43,92 while Randall was very impressive with his 3:49,18. Troyden Prinsloo was disappointing in his 3:51,83 claiming 6th place.

The international ladies dominated the 50m butterfly, comfortably claiming a clean sweep of all the silverware.

Martina Maravcova (Svk) showed just why she has become an icon in the swimming fraternity when she demolished the field in the two lapper. Her winning effort was 26,53 and well ahead of Ilona Hlavackova (Cze) who led the chasing group in a time of 27,32, just ahead of Haley Cope (USA) (27,41) and Nele Hofmann (Ger) (27,54). The first local lass home was the diminutive Mandy Loots who is more at home in the 200 fly in a time of 27,64.

"I'm happy with the wins," Moravcova said. "The times are okay for this point of the season. This is my first meet since the World Championships in Barcelona, so I'm just getting a feel for it again."

The 200m butterfly saw China's Peng Wu swim a well judged race to claim the honours in convincing fashion in a time of 1:56,09. He was however made to work hard by the tenacious Moss Burmester (Nzl) who was the early pace setter and managed to hold onto the silver in a time of 1:56,32, just ahead of the fast finishing Brazilian, Lucas Salatta who posted a respectable 1:56,59. Local stalwart, Theo Verster headed home the chasing pack in a time of 1:59,51, well off the pace.

Staciana Stitts from the USA is somewhat of a novelty to the South African public, with her shaved head and carefree attitude. In the water, however she becomes a serious young lady and strutted her stuff in the 100m breastroke.

Stitts who worked hard on her underwater and turns was never really challenged claiming her first gold medal of the meet in a 1:07,63 which was just far too good for the chasing pack. China's Nan Lou won the silver in 1:08,81 while Stitts' compatriot, Ashley Roby took the bronze in a time of 1:09,36. The much-improved Tamaryn Laubscher from South Africa claimed fourth place in a time of 1:09,88.

The men's 50m breastroke was a scintillating affair.

As usual, South African sprint king, Roland Schoeman was off the blocks in a flash and was a tad ahead of the field going into the turn. Oleg Lisogor from the Ukraine, attacked the wall on his turn an closed on Schoeman with a massive effort. With 10m to go, it was still the South African that held a slight advantage, but Lisogor, a seasoned campaigner, was not to be denied. A final lunge into the wall saw the Ukrainian snatch the gold from Schoeman in a time of 26,97. Schoeman, who broke Brendon Dedekinds' long standing domestic record posted a time of 26,99 while Brazilian Eduardo Fischer collected the bronze in a time of 27,63 to edge out a fast finishing Kurt Muller (RSA) who posted a 27,79.

"Finishing a close second behind the world record holder in the 50-metre breaststroke is great," Schoeman said of his performance against Ukrainian World Cup record and world record holder Oleg Lisogor.

"Earlier in the evening Ryk Neethling said to me,