MADRID, 18 May 2004 — Russian sprint czar Alexander Popov fired a warning shot of his intention to reclaim his Olympic titles in Athens by winning the 50m freestyle gold on the final day of the European swimming championship here on Sunday.
Popov, who completed the 50m and 100m double at last year’s world championships in Barcelona, was outside his world record time of 21.64 touching home in 22.32, but it was enough to ease ahead of Swede Stefan Nystrand, 22.42.
Italy’s Lorenzo Vismara took bronze in 22.45.
Athens will be the fourth Olympics for 32-year-old Popov, the 50m and 100m champion in 1992 and 1996, but who lost both titles at the 2000 Sydney Games.
In the absence of great rival Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands, who earlier in the week won the 200m freestyle and took silver in the 100m but was not competing over 50m, Popov’s vast experience paid off after qualifying for the final in eighth position.
French teenager Laure Manaudou was the star of Sunday’s final day when she snatched gold from the 400m freestyle and minutes later got back in the pool to claim her third title, the 4x100m medley relay, with the French team.
The 17-year-old took the 100m backstroke title earlier in the week.
Manaudou timed 4:07.90 to come in ahead of Romania’s Camelia Potec, in 4:09.31, with Ukrainian star Yana Klochkova having to settle for bronze this time after winning gold in both the 200m and 400m medley races.
Meanwhile Hungarian teenager Laszlo Cseh claimed his second gold of the championship when he added the men’s 400m medley title to the 100m backstroke title he won earlier in the week.
Cseh, 18, the world runner-up over the distance, timed 4min 12.86se to come in ahead of Italian duo Luca Marin (4:14.31) and Alessio Boggiatto (4:14.32).
Earlier, in the absence of Dutch world record holder Inge De Bruijn, Swede Therese Alshammar won the women’s 50m freestyle gold in 25.12.
Two-time European and Olympic runner-up Alshammar was almost a second off De Bruijn’s record mark of 24.13 set at the Sydney Olympics but a strong finish gave her gold ahead of Belarussian Svetlana Khakhlova (25.20) and German Sandra Volker (25.24).
Poland’s Otylia Jedrzejczak won gold in the women’s 200m butterfly to add to the silver she won over the 100m distance earlier in the week.
The 20-year-old world record holder timed 2min 6.47sec to come in ahead of Italy’s Paola Cavallino (2:09.27) and Dane Mette Jacobsen (2:09.43).
Ilona Hlavacova of the Czech Republic won the women’s 50m backstroke in 29sec ahead of Spanish world champion Nina Zhivanevskaya (29.03) and Italy’s Alessandra Cappa (29.28).
