USA sink Europe at Duel in Pool

Europe gained a measure of revenge by swimming the world’s fastest short course time in history for the 400-metre freestyle relay during the final day of the Duel in the Pool swim meet.

Europe may have stormed to victory over the Americans in Saturday’s relay race but they lost the overall title in the two-day competition at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center pool.

The USA followed up their dominating performance in day one with 10 more wins on Saturday to easily capture the unique head-to-head competition 181.5 points to 80.5 points. The USA won 22 of the 30 races.

The Americans have now won all five Duel in the Pool events, beating Australia three times and Europe in the last two.

In the 400 metre relay, Denmark’s Jeanette Ottesen, Britain’s Francesca Halsall, Aliaksandra Herasimenia, of Belarus, and Dutchwoman Ranomi Kromowidjojo covered the distance in three minutes, 27.53 seconds, beating the old mark of 3:28.22 set by the Netherlands three years ago.

But the performance does not count for a world record because the relay team members are all from different nations.

On the men’s side, the USA’s Brendan Hansen won the 100 metre breaststroke, edging Dan Gyurta of Hungary with a time of 57.62.

American Nick Brunelli beat runner-up Vladimir Morozov, of Russia, in the 50 metre freestyle and Hungarian Laszlo Cseh defeated Davis Tarwater, of the US, to win the 200m butterfly.