2009 Best Performances

200 METRES BACKSTROKE

#	Country		Time	Name	IPS	Meet
1		RUS	1:48.55	Vyatchanin, Arkadi	1009	SALNKDEC
2		RUS	1:49.22	Donets, Stanislav	1000	EURSCDEC
2		ESP	1:49.22	Wildeboer, Aschwin	1000	EURSCDEC
4		JPN	1:49.92	Irie, Ryosuke	991	JPOPNFEB
5		FRA	1:50.82	Roger, Pierre	979	NOUMMAY

Superfish: Michael Phelps is the new face of the worldwide Subway Restaurant chain. Chosen for his healthy lifetsyle image, and doubtless his ability to devour vast amounts of food when burning fuel at the rate of a Concord, Phelps is a good catch for Subway: his Facebook entry, with 600,000 "friends" seeking to reach out and touch the virtual Superfish, is the second most popular after that of President-elect Barack Obama. Washed away in the swimmer's wake are soccer ace Cristiano Ronaldo (9th, according to La Gazetta dello Sport), basketball ace Kobe Bryant (18th), track speedster Usain Bolt (21st), tennis ace Rafa Nadal (30th) and F1's new king, Lewis Hamilton (41st). Phelps aims to be back on a full-calories training regime by February at the latest, in readiness for the World Championships in Rome in July, when he may give the big sprinters a swim for their money in the 100m, assuming he gets past the not-insignificant challenge of the US trials.

Italy: And talking of sprinters - Filippo Magnini, the Italian and world champion 100m freestyler who was washed away in the techno-suit dance of 2008, has sent a "face-your-Waterloo" message to Olympic champ Alain Bernard (FRA) via reporter Stefano Arcobelli at La Gazzetta dello Sport: "I'll see you in Rome, just in case you thought I was finished." Magnini is reigning world l/c champ with Canadian Brent Hayden. Neither men made the Olympic final in Beijing as the bodysuit helped to blast sprint freestyle into a new era - one that is more likely than Bernard to face its Waterloo in Rome as pressure grows for the rule book to restrict the impact of suits on performance. Magnini took a long holiday in the Caribbean after the woes of Beijing but has now been working not only on a comeback to speed over 100m but would like to take on new world-record holder in the 200m, Paul Biedermann, of Germany, over eight little laps. Next round: European s/c Championships in Croatia next month.

France: Laure Manaudou, the French freestyle-backstroke ace who was on top of the world in 2007 but slumped to also-swam after an Italian adventure from which she has yet to recover in terms of her performance in water is concerned, need no longer look for danger in international waters. There is plenty of it at home. If Coralie Balmy, a fingernail shy of Manaudou's world 400m short-course record in Berlin 10 days ago, is piling on the domestic pressure on freestyle, then the backstroke skills of Alexianne Castel, 18, also offer little comfort for the European champion. After a two-week camp in Pretoria, L'Equipe tells us, Castel clocked 1:01.88 in the 100m and 2:07.75 in the 200m, short-course, compared to a rested best time of 2:06.41. Given that she dropped from a 2:13.82 to a 2:07.94 long-course in the past 12 months, the short-course times is dued for a big drop. Manaudou is not done yet, of course. Last weekend she clocked a best time of 2:07.02 in Saint-Dizier (slower than her long-course best). The French record stands at 2:04.08 to former European champion and Marseilles clubmate of Manaudou, Esther Baron. The French s/c nationals at Angers, December 5-7, will deliver a verdict.

Zagreb, Croatia: Some results from the short-course meet there as swimmers warm up for the Euro s/c champs at another Croatian venue, Rijeka, next month: Duje Draganja (CRO), 21.94, 50 free; Jame Gibson (GBR), 58.52, 100m breast; Peter Mankoc (SLO), 50.84, 100 'fly; Sanja Jovanovic (CRO), 59.35, 100 back; Mirna Jukic (AUT), 1:06.10, 100 breast.

Doping: Max Jaben, the Israeli 23-year-old who dropped from a 1:51.89 to a 1:49.43 over 200m free in the year to this summer past, has been suspended for a year after testing positive for the steroid boldenone. The suspension has been handed down by his national federation, which showed leniency because it is the swimmer's first offense and one that cause him to miss the Olympic Games. Ludicrous leniency, you might say. Fairness suggests that the suspension should be for the two years available to those handing down suspensions. FINA may yet intervene, in that it cannot be happy with a situation where one swimmer gets half the sentence of another when the offense is equal. Jaben, who swims for the Kansas City Blazers team and the University of Florida, knew what he was doing: cheating. He should pay the price.