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Miley's Smiley 4:23.47ER Is World Tex Best

Nov 25, 2012  - Craig Lord

European Short-Course Championships, Chartres, Day 4 finals: 

On the last day of action, Hannah Miley struck gold for Britain in European record time with a 4:23.47 victory in the 400m medley, while Rikke Pedersen (DEN) has set a European record of 1:04.12 for victory in the 100m breaststroke and France went on a gold rush at home.

The championships ended with the hosts, France, well ahead on the medals table (see foot of this page for the count), while Romain Barnier, Marseilles coach, told L'Equipe that there was only a 1% chance that we would ever see Laure Manaudou back in the race pool. 

The 26-year-old would end her career for the second time, having quit in 2009 first time round, five years after becoming Olympic champion over 400m freestyle. If she goes now, she will go with a gold in the 50m backstroke as the last memory of her solo racing days. Today, she collected her 37th international medal of her career, a bronze in the 4x50m free relay.

Manaudou herself is still saying she will take her time to decide and let the world know when she's ready.

Women's 400m Medley

On a day of speculation over "what next" for Britain as it searches for a new head coach and performance director, Hannah Miley added the European 400IM crown in the little pool to the same honour long-course in 2010, her 4:23.47 establishing a new European record and keeping at bay world cup queen Katinka Hosszu and Hungarian teammate Zsuzsanna Jakabos, on 4:23.91 and 4:25.61 respectively.

"I'm shocked that I was that fast," Miley, coached by dad Patrick, told poolside reporters after setting the best time ever in a textile suit. She took charge of the race for the first time on breaststroke (third on butterfly and backstroke behind the Hungarians). The European mark had stood to the absent Mireia Belmonte (ESP) at 4:24.21 since she claimed the 2010 world s/c crown in Dubai.

Both Miley and Hosszu raced inside Belmonte's best, which had been the best ever in textile suit. "Last year I went 4:26 and I was hoping to clock the same time again this week or maybe go a little quicker," said Miley. "To post that time for a new European Record is amazing. This week has been good for me even though tonight was very tough. I thought Katinka was going to come past me at the end but I dug deep to hold on."

Miley also took silver in the 200m medley and the 800m freestyle at the meet.

Men's 200m Breaststroke 

Vyacheslav Sinkevich (RUS) moved up from fourth at the half-way mark to third going into to the last 50m and surged past the leaders to a 2:04.55 victory, taking the Ukraine teammates  Igor Borysik and Andriy Kovalenko with him on to the podium. As Giamcomo Perez (FRA) and Carlos Almeida (POR) peered up at their respective times of 2:05.35 and 2:05.59, they realised that Borysik and Kovalenko had beaten them to the draw four the minor spoils, on 2:05.12 and 2:05.21 respectively.

Women's 200m Freestyle 

Camille Muffat (FRA) took her second solo gold of the meet after a world-record breaking victory in the 400m free. Her 1:52.20 victory fell just shy of the 1:51.65 world textile best she established at French nationals a week ago. Muffat was ahead of world-record pace at 50m (26.14 to Federica Pellegrini's 26.58), 100m (54.71 to 54.84) but the suits are hard to beat from that point on and Muffat turned in 1:23.40, 0.31sec off Pellegrini's 2009 pace, at the 150m mark on her way to a dominant triumph in front of a home crowd. 

Gaul roared a second time when the clock struck 1:54.00, Charlotte Bonnet taking silver ahead of bronze for Russian Veronika Popova, on 1:54.20.

Men's 100m medley 

A champion on freestyle and the world's fastest 100m man this week in Chartres as well as a backstroke podium placer, Vladimir Morozov (RUS) showed his versatility with a 51.89sec  triumph on all four strokes. Peter Mankov (SLO), so often the groom with gold, settled for best man and silver this time round, in 52.64, the bronze going to his brother-in-law, Martti Aljand (EST), on 52.92.

Women's 100m butterfly

Ilaria Bianchi took down the Italian national record with a 56.40 victory after sweeping past Jeanette Ottesen (DEN) over the second 50m, the Dane taking bronze in 57.13. The silver went to Kimberly Buys (BEL in 57.00.

Men's 200m Freestyle

Yannick Agnel made it solo gold number four for Nice coach Fabrice Pellerin with a go-to-gold dominant 1:41.46 triumph for the hosts, the time well off the pace of the 1:39.70 world textile best he set at French nationals last week but good enough to confine Pieter Timmers (BEL), 1:43.08, and the champion's teammate Gregory Mallet, on 1:43.21, to the minor spoils.

Women's 100m breaststroke

Rikke Pedersen (DEN) set a European record of 1:04.12, off a 30.45 split, to win the crown 0.09sec inside her own continental standard. Her effort, dominant in Chartres, is the 19th best performance ever but the fifth best ever in textile suit, the only swimmers faster Americans Jessica Hardy and Rebecca Soni and Australian Leisel Jones. The silver today went to Petra Chocova (CZE) in 1:05.50, the bronze to Marina Garcia (ESO), in 1:05.82, both those efforts setting national records. Fourth claimed a national mark too, Sycerika McMahon inside the Irish mark on 1:06.18.

Men's 100m backstroke

France celebrated a 1-2 finish as Jeremy Stravius clocked 49.70 to take down Camille Lacourt's French record of 49.80 from 2010, the silver staying home in Gaul courtesy of Ben Stasiulis, on 50.31. The bronze went to Damiano Lestingi (ITA) in 51.35.

Women's 200m backstroke

The last "olympic event" final of the meet saw a championship record fall to Daryna Zevina (UKR) with a 2:01.97 victory. Fourth at the 50m mark in 29.57, she moved up to second behind Britain's Karley Mann (GBR) at the half-way turn, on 1:00.71, before taking the lead, the podium in place - but not the right order - by the 150m, Zevina on 1:31.71. Alexianne Castel (FRA) past Simona Baumrtova (CZE) on the way to the end wall for silver in 2:03.23 to 2:03.43. 

European record holder Elizabeth Simmonds (GBR) was not at the meet, opting to focus on the world s/c titles in Istanbul next month, while the Euro championship mark had stood to Zevina at 2:02.25 since she won the crown a year ago.

Men's 50m butterfly

Rafa Munoz (ESP) took the win in 22.53, 0.01sec ahead of Fred Bousquet (FRA), the bronze going to Andriy Govorov (UKR) in 22.72.

Women's 50m freestyle

Joint world 100m champions of 2011 Aliaksandra Herasimenia (BLR) and Jeanette Ottesen (DEN) were split by Triin Aljand (EST) in the dash to conclude the solo meet, the Belorus swimmer with a chapter of doping suspension in her book, taking the title in 23.85, ahead of efforts of 24.24 and 24.33.

Men's 4x50m freestyle

France claimed its fourth gold medal of the day with a 1:23.31 to 1:23.99 victory over Russia. The race started in upset, Vladimir Morozov taking Olympic champion Florent Manaudou 20.78 to 20.83, before Fred Bousquet gained an edge for France with a 20.65 split, to 21.12 for Andrey Grechin. The gap narrowed when Jeremy Stravius put in a 21.00, Evgeny Lagunov chasing on 20.84, before Amaury Leveaux settled the argument in gaul's favour with a 20.83 homecoming effort ahead of a 21.16 from Vitaly Syrnikov. The bronze went to belgium in 1:25.60.

Women's 4x50m medley. 

Denmark's Kristina Thomsen, Rikke Pedersen, Jeanette Ottesen and Pernille Blume took gold in 1:47.41, Blume overhauling the silver medallist for the first time on the last leg. Just 0.26sec adrift at the close, the Czech Republic took silver, France a further 0.03sec away.

Some fine races to end a meet marked by absenteeism, an issue that matters when it comes to championships, titles and running the sport without a constant stream of necessary asterisks.

The Medals

1

FRA France

12

6

11

29

2= 2=

DEN Denmark HUN Hungary

6

4

2

12

6

4

2

12

4

RUS Russia

5

5

2

12

5

ITA Italy

4

2

3

9

6

UKR Ukraine

2

2

3

7

7

CZE Czech Republic

1

2

4

7

8

GBR Great Britain

1

2

2

5

9

ESP Spain

1

2

1

4

10

BLR Belarus

1

1

1

3

11

POL Poland

1

1

12= 12= 12=

BEL EST SLO

Belgium Estonia Slovenia

2

1

3

2

1

3

2

1

3

15

ISR Israel

1

2

3

16= 16=

FIN Finland NOR Norway

1

1

2

1

1

2

18

CRO Croatia

1

1

19= 19=

IRL Ireland NED Netherlands

1

1

1

1

TOTAL

40

40

40

120