Olympic champion Cesar Cielo (BRA) scored another point over rivals at the Barcelona round of the Mare Nostrum Tour when he clocked 21.97 to win the 50m freestyle. Second place was shared by Cullen Jones (USA) and Fred Bousquet (FRA), both on 22.17, with Stefan Nystrand (SWE) fourth in 22.38. 

"It's always good to touch first," said Cielo. "It's good for your confidence. Even if the time is average, I won."

For the Frenchman, warming up for bigger moments on the rest of the tour, his effort left him 1.23sec shy of the 20.94 "world record" (yet to be ratified) set at French nationals in April. Bousquet said: "I would ahve like to trouble him [Cielo] a little bit more over 50m. I have Canet now at which to beat him. This is the first stage of a long tour."

Bousquet was convinced that his Jaked01 suit was insignificant to the first sub-21sec effort ever seen. Only events at the world championships in Rome are likely to provide a true picture of where swimming is along the journey of pulling itself away from performance-enhancement in suits. 

In Barcelona, 8th place went to Olympic silver medallist Amaury Leveaux (FRA) on 22.75. French media reports were summed up by the headline in L'Equipe today: "Is there a problem Leveaux?" Leveaux told AFP: "I don't know if I'm just tired or whether I'm fed up with swimming. I just don't know anymore where I am. I'm just fed up with it all. After Rijeka, I had no drive. I asked myself questions, whether it was fatigue or just a reflection of reality."

In other action, world champion Libby Trickett (AUS) went 53.87 in the 100m free ahead of teammate Felicity Galvez, on 54.79, and Dorothea Brandt (GER), on 54.99. Anastasia Zueva (RUS) clocked 27.82 to win the 50m backstroke ahead of Daniela Samulski (GER), on 28.15, and Sophie Edington (AUS), third in 28.33. Zueva was back later to win the 200m in 2:10.04, ahead of Britain's Elizabeth Simmonds, on 2:10.94. Her teammate, world-record holder Joanne Jackson (GBR) whacked out a 4:05.90 win in the 400m free ahead of Bronte Barratt (AUS), on 4:12.25, and Cassandra Patten (GBR) on 4:12.79. Yuliya Efimova (RUS) took the 100m breaststroke in 1:07.66, ahead of Mirna Jukic (AUT), on 1:08.12, and Russian teammate Valentina Artemyeva, on 1:09.53. Jessicah Schipper held on for victory in the 200m butterfly in 2:09.72 ahead of Mireia Belmonte (ESP), on 2:10.27. Belmonte was back later to take third in the 200m medley behind Brits Hannah Miley, 2:12.29 and Keri-Anne Payne, on 2:13.85. 

Andrew Lauterstein (AUS) cracked out a 51.77 in the 100m butterfly ahead of Milorad Cavic (SRB), Olympic silver medallist by 0.01sec, on 52.09. Nikita Lobintsev (RUS) won the 200m free in 1:47.30 ahead of teammate Alexander Sukhorukov, on 1:48.06, and Britain's Ross Davenport, on 1:49.04. The 1,500m free went to Marcos Rivera Miranda (ESP) in 15:22.49, ahead of Daniel Fogg (GBR), on 15:29.97. Christian Sprenger (AUS), after a close seconf in the 50m behind Mark Gangloff (USA) won the 200m in 2:12.35.

Some key results from Barcelona:

Saturday: 

Men: 400m free: 1. Nikita Lobinzev (Rus) 3:44.97. 100m breaststroke: 1. Christian Sprenger (Aus) 1:00.38. 50m butterfly: 1. Andrew Lauterstein (Aus) 23.36.; 2. Rafael Munoz (Esp) 23.37; 3. Roland Schoeman (RSA) and  Milorad Cavic (SRB) 23.63.

Women: 50m free: 1. Libby Trickett (AUS) 24.21. 2. Therese Alshammar (SWE) 24.52. 3. Francesca Halsall (GBR) 24.54. 800m libre: 1. Joanne Jackson (GB) 8:24.48. 50m brasse: 1. Valentina Artemieva (RUS) 30.56; 2. Yulia Efimova (RUS) 30.90. 200m breaststroke: 1. Mirna Jukic (AUT) 2:22.84. 100m back: 1. Anastasia Zueva (RUS) 59.95. 2. Elizabeth Simmonds (GBR) 1:00.81. 100m butterfly: 1. Sarah Sjöström (SWE) 57.90. 2. Jessicah Schipper (AUS) 58.26. 3. Felicity Galvez (AUS) 58.31. 400m medley: 1. Hannah Miley (GBR) 4:34.41. 2. Mireia Belmonte (ESP) 4:39.01.

Sunday

Men: 50m free: 1. Cesar Cielo (BRA) 21.97. 200m free: 1. Nikita Lobinzev (RUS) 1:47.30. 50m breaststroke: 1. Mark Gangloff (USA) 27.87. 100m 'fly : 1. Andrew Lauterstein (AUS) 51.77. 2. Milorad Cavic (SRB) 52.09. 

Women: 100m free: 1. Libby Trickett (AUS) 53.87. 400m free: 1. Joanne Jackson (GBR) 4:05.90. 50m backstroke: 1. Anastasia Zueva (RUS) 27.82. 200m backstroke: 1. Zueva 2:10.04. 100m breaststroke: 1. Yulia Efimova (RUS) 1:07.66. 50m 'fly: 1. Therese Alshamar (SWE) 26.06. 2. Marieke Guehrer (Aus) 26.13; 3. Trickett 26.18.

Meanwhile, over in Croatia, Laszlo Cseh, triple Olympic silver medallist behind the man Hungarians call "the alien", clocked 1:57.53 over 200m butterfly at the Zagreb meet as he warms up for the world championships in Rome.

NB: To the couple of folk I had mails from overnight suggesting that it was normal for swimmers to be over a second outside their best mid-season (not mentioning that it was early season when they challenged the world record books) over 50m: I took a peak at history. No, it is not usual. It is a touch away from usual. One pertinent example: Alex Popov (RUS): his best eight times of the 2003 season were within half a second; In 1992, 1996, 2000, he was never more than 0.6sec away from best at any time from spring onwards. A similar pattern rang true in eight other notable cases before I stopped checking. And as for concerns that all relates to suits: of course it does. A great pity, yes, but for those who imagine it is just here that you find such things, a trawl of the world media database threw up more than 600 references to suits in the past 36 hours in media from Japan, France, Spain, Britain, Brazil, Australia and Italy, to mention a few of the nations reporting what international agencies are putting out from events around the globe.