Matt Jaukovic and Robert Hurley, both from Australia, were the swimmers in evidence during the third leg of the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup 2008 on October 25-26 in Sydney (AUS), by establishing respectively the World Records in the men’s 50m butterfly and men’s 50m backstroke. Jaukovic clocked 22.50 in the butterfly event, improving by 0.1 the former World Record held by Kaio Almeida (BRA) since December 2005. With this result, the Australian swimmer got the best performance of the meet (1039 points). Hurley was also brilliant in the backstroke event, touching in 23.24, 0.03 faster than the former WR established in December 2004 by Thomas Rupprath (GER).
In the men’s field, Oussama Mellouli (TUN) continued his winning saga of the series by getting eight gold medals – 200m, 400m and 1500m free, and the three (100m, 200m and 400m) medley events. Christian Sprenger, from Australia, triumphed in the breaststroke distances and reinforced his lead of the overall rankings (he has now 55 points).
Among women, Katheryn Meaklim (RSA) was the only one obtaining five victories in the 800m free, 200m breaststroke, 200m butterfly, 200m and 400m individual medley. The dominator of the series so far, Australian Marieke Guehrer was the best in three events (100m free, 50m and 100m butterfly), getting the highest women’s performance in Sydney in the 50m butterfly (time of 25.46 for 1011 points). With this result, she is now the clear leader of the ranking, with 75 points – she was the best performer in the three meets contested so far. Her team mate Emily Seebohm was also in great shape in the Olympic Aquatic Centre in Sydney, with triumphs in the 50m and 100m backstroke, as well as in the 100m individual medley.
Australia was the most winning country in Sydney, with a total of 21 gold medals out of the 34 at stake.