Cesar Cielo (BRA), Olympic 50m free champion, in an arena suit that will pass muster in the 2010 apparel regime to come, clocked 48.83sec to keep Russians Evgeny Lagunov and Andrei Grechin at bay over 100m freestyle at the first round of the Mare Nostrum Tour in Barcelona this afternoon.

Lagunov was just 0.04sec adrift, with Grechin on 49.01. All three will continue to step up their race readiness during the rest of the tour and are likely to be among those vying for a place in the world-title final in Rome next month. Fourth was Stefan Nystrand (SWE) on 49.24 and fifth Fred Bousquet (FRA) on 49.26, 2.21sec outside his best of a few weeks ago. As L'Equipe noted: the world is trying out new materials now that the ones they could use this season have been barred from the race pool by FINA. Of course, at a mid-season meet, hard to say who is at what stage of preparations and how it all fits in with hard work and suits. Only in Rome at world championships will the picture become clearer.

In the morning heats, Australian Olympic silver medallist Eamon Sullivan (world record holder at a time when French Olympic champion Alain Bernard's 46.94 in an arena X-Glide that had not been approved for use and has since been rejected by FINA) missed the cut with 50.07 and will get a second shiot in Sunday's B finals. He may not bother, however: Sullivan is suffering from a respiratory illness and may have to take things easy if he is to reciver in time to make any of his visit to Europe in the build-up to Rome worlds count for much. Amaury Leveaux (FRA) was another big name to miss the cut: he finished 22nd on 50.67.

Rafael Muñoz, who axed half a second off the world record in the 50m butterfly in a Jaked01, a suit that has since been banned, finished second to Australian Andrew Lauterstein, on 23.36. Munoz fell a second shy of his 22.43 world record. A second shy in a 50m race.

Not all are suffering the same effects of loss of suits: Hannah Miley (GBR) wore a Jaked on the way to a 4:31.33 European 400m medley record a few weeks back. She is built like a relative sparrow (albeit a very efficient one when it comes to swimming, I hasten to add) and in Barcelona cracked out a 4:34.41 effort that tells us to watch for her in Rome, whatever suit is being worn. Second was Mireia Belmonte (ESP) on 4:39.01.

One of the best efforts of the day came from Mirna Jukic (AUT), who on 2:22.84 fell just 0.38sec shy of her own European record. Nikita Lobintsev (RUS) also showed great form, with a 3:44.97 win in the 400m freestyle.