USA: Brent Hayden, the 2007 joint world champion over 100m freestyle for Canada, edged into the lead on the early 2010 world rankings with a 49.43 effort at the Missouri GP in the States. Tae-hwan Park (KOR) had occupied top slot for a day, on 49.45, ahead of a 49.58 from Olympic champion Alain Bernard (FRA), France's teenager to watch, Yannick Angel, next on the list so far, in 49.60, useful for a 200m-400m man. Elsewhere at the Missouri GP, Chloe Sutton (Mission Viejo/Mission Viejo Nadadores) claimed a third win at the meet, an 8:40.16 in the 800m free; Nick Thoman (Cincinnati, Ohio/SwimMac Carolina) took the 200m back in 2:00.12 and said: "The first 150 went really well. The last 150 hurt a whole lot. I’m going to have to work on that a bit."; Amanda Weir (Lawrenceville, Ga./Swim Atlanta) touched ahead in the 100m free, on 56.19.
Italy: Fillipo Magnini, the Italian who shared that 100m free crown with Hayden (above) in Melbourne 2007, thus retaining the title he first won in 2005, raced at a short-course meet in Viterbo at the weekend and clocked a 49.07 at the start of his competitive season. At a long-course meet in San Marino, Marco Orsi claimed a freestyle sprint double in 22.78 and 50.40.
