“I've never been to Moscow and I'm glad I've visited this beautiful city,” he proceeded to note about visiting the host city.

“As my Ukrainian friend says, Moscow is a kind of a party-place and I think the same. Well, it's rather cold here, in Moscow. I’ve gotten used to the very different weather from South Africa, but I'm definitely glad to be here.”

One more surprise came from Valentina Artemyeva – exactly like what happened on the first day of the meet, the 22-year old from Novosibirsk set a new European record in the 50m breaststroke with a time of 29.86. This was also a new World Cup record. Valentina has slightly changed her stroke technique and now looks very much like her compatriot and another rising Russian star, Yulia Efimova, except with stronger legs.

“Last year we had six Russian participants in the final,” Artemyeva said. “This time there were only four of us against four foreigners who were very strong. Thanks to having such rivals we have motivation to win.”

“I'm satisfied with myself now, but my main goal is to take part in the next World Championships. And I would also like to set a new world record.”

Oussama Mellouli (TUN) got his 21st World Cup victory in the 1500m freestyle but was a little disappointed with his 4th place finish in the 200m freestyle (he lost the bronze medal in the very last stroke to Alexander Sukhorukov, RUS). The winner of the race, Darian Townsend (1:43.44, RSA) was exuberant with the fact that he out swam so great an athlete as Mellouli. One more young Russian star, Danila Isotov, came second but mentioned that he is experiencing a difficult period in his career: he has to decide whether to continue training with his previous coach or not.

The women's 400m IM fixed the first all-Russian podium at the event: Svetlana Karpeeva came first (4:41.26) with Yana Martynova (bronze medallist at the 2007 FINA World Championships) and Anna Markova, taking second and third. Karpeeva, who is swimming in USA now, nevertheless mentioned that she was not happy with her time, but okay with the placement.

One of the World Cup leaders and winner of 50m butterfly - Matthew Jaukovich (AUS) - got a victory in the 100m butterfly (50.68). Evgeny Korotyshkin (RUS) seemed to be in the lead, but lost in the last touch.

“I didn't believe in victory yesterday, but got it anyway. I'm really happy today – this is terrific. I like to compete with such strong swimmers as Korotyshkin and Skvortsov. I'm happy to have my parents here in the pool among the spectators. I hope they will like Moscow, as I do,” Jaukovich said.

Mellouli took revenge in the 200m IM (his 4th win in Moscow and 22nd in the World Cup series). The race was hard enough, with Darian Townsend leading through the whole distance and letting Mellouli get ahead only in the final lap of freestyle.

Artemyeva was quite close to grabbing every gold in the breaststroke events, but missed out in the last distance – 200m breaststroke. She was leading for 170m of the race but “died” at the end. The other Russian - Olga Deteniuk - came first (2:21.70).

Stanislav Donets (RUS) missed the podium for the 200m backstroke and this distance became the first where Donets didn't get a medal. Ryosuke Iriye (JPN) became the winner here instead, in 1:52.61.

All the participants mentioned competed at the very high level and the competition was followed with high interest from the Russian media.

At the end of the second day it was announced that Andrey Vorontsov, who has worked for many years in swimming in Great Britain, is to become the new national coach for the next four years.

Top-3 FINA World Cup Overall Ranking after Moscow meet:

Men
Cameron vd Burgh (RSA) - 115 points
Robert Hurley (AUS) - 76 points
Christian Sprenger (AUS) - 70 points

Women
Marieke Guehrer (AUS) - 116 points
Therese Alshammar (SWE) - 65 points
Katheryn Meaklim (RSA) - 42 points