MADRID, 16 May 2004 — World champion Alexander Popov moved smoothly into the semifinals of the 50 meters freestyle at the European swimming championships, winning his heat as he began his bid to regain a title he has won four times.

Popov, double Olympic champion in 1992 and 1996, clocked 22.74 seconds to qualify fourth overall for yesterday’s semifinals behind the 22.50 of Oleksandr Volynets of Ukraine.

He sidestepped the 100 freestyle in which his great Dutch rival Pieter van den Hoogenband, who deposed him as Olympic champion at the 2000 Games, was beaten by Italian Filippo Magnini.

Mark Foster, silver medalist behind Popov at the 2003 world championships in Barcelona, finished fourth in the Russian’s heat and 11th overall in 22.95 as he seeks to win an appeal against his exclusion from the British Olympic squad.

Sweden’s Therese Alshammar made a confident start to her bid to win the women’s 50 freestyle for the third successive time, leading qualifiers for the semifinals in 25.21.

Marleen Veldhuis of the Netherlands, silver medalist in the 100 freestyle, was second in 25.37, while Germany’s Sandra Voelker, double sprint freestyle medalist at the 1996 Atlanta Games, won her heat in the third-fastest time of 25.49. Olympic champion Inge de Bruijn is not competing in Madrid. Ilona Hlavackova of the Czech Republic set far and away the fastest heat time in the women’s 50 backstroke, clocking 29.19, with Hinkelien Schreuder of the Netherlands next in 29.61.

Poland’s Otylia Jedrzejczak, bronze medallist in Friday’s 100 butterfly, led the way in the women’s 200 butterfly with a heat time of two minutes 10.83 seconds. World record holder Jedrzejczak won the event at the last two European championships. Hungary’s Eva Risztov, silver medalist in the 400 individual medley, was next quickest in 2:11.02.

Meanwhile Russia’s Yevgeny Kochkarov won his second open-water title with the narrowest of victories over Spain’s David Meca in the men’s 25-km race.

Kochkarov clinched the gold but Meca was credited with the same time of four hours 18 minutes 00.5 seconds for his second silver in the event, having also finished second in 2000. Petar Stoychev of Bulgaria took the bronze just two seconds back in 4:18:02.5 in the San Juan Reservoir in Pelayos de Presa, 55 km from Madrid.