Bernard smashes 100m record again to win title

Frenchman Alain Bernard shattered the 100m freestyle world record for the second time in two days at the European Championships yesterday.

Bernard, who had snatched the record from Pieter van den Hoogen-band on Friday, lowered it by a further 0.10 seconds to 47.50 to win the final by the best part of a second.

Bernard had clocked 47.60 seconds in the semi-finals to beat the 47.84 mark Van den Hoogenband set in the semi-finals of the Sydney Olympics on September 19, 2000, on the way to the first of his two Olympic 100 freestyle titles.

Van den Hoogenband, who turned 30 last week, had pulled out of the Eindhoven event, having been ill during the week.

The heavily-muscled Frenchman turned at the 50-metre mark in 22.53, a breathtaking 0.35 seconds inside his own world record split of 22.88, and powered down the return length to finish the job to the cheers of spectators.

Sweden's Stefan Nystrand took silver in 48.40 and world champion Filippo Magnini, of Italy, who had won the title at the last two European Championships, had to settle for bronze in 48.53.