France: Alain Bernard, Olympic 100m free champion, clocked 22.74 over 50m at the Nice meet in the wake of an altitude training camp in Pretoria. The French sprinter started the season on 22.71 at the Luxembourg meet at the end of January three weeks into a return to full training. Bernard took three strokes less for his second race outing of the season over 50m. Coach Denis Auguin told L'Equipe: "Things are falling into place slowly ... he's in a hard place right now", having endured weeks of up to 70km of training in water in Pretoria. Bernard races the 100m in Nice tomorrow.
USA: Cesar Cielo (BRA), Olympic 50m free champion, will make his 2010 race debut at the Austin Grand Prix in Texas on March 4-6. He will race the 50 and 100m free and 100m back. Cielo is also scheduled to race at the April round of the GP series.
Spain: Accustomed to the 400m, 800m and 1,500m in the pool, Spain's top distance swimmer, Erika Villaécija, will race 5km at the Spanish Open Water Championships to be held tomorrow at the pool venue that hosted the 1986 world championships.
