RIJEKA, Dec 13: Three world records were set at the European short-course championships on Friday, with Amaury Leveaux of France breaking his second in a meet that has contained six world records in two days.

Alessia Filippi of Italy and the 4x50-metre relay team from the Netherlands also set records on Friday.

The 23-year-old Leveaux won his 100 freestyle semi-final in 45.12 seconds, shaving .57 off the mark set five days ago by Olympic champion and team-mate Alain Bernard.

It was Leveaux’s third short-course world record in a week. On Thursday, he set a record in the 50 freestyle in the final. Last Saturday, he broke the 50 butterfly mark at the French championships.

“I knew I was capable and that I would get results,” Leveaux said.

Filippi set the record in the 800 freestyle, winning in 8:04.53, more than three seconds faster than the mark set last year by Kate Ziegler of the US in Essen, Germany.

Coralie Balmy of France came second, and Lotte Friis of Denmark was third.

The Dutch relay team of Hinkelien Schreuder, Inge Dekker, Ranomi Kromowidjojo and Marleen Veldhuis finished in 1 minute, 33.80 seconds, 1.02 seconds faster than the previous record set last year by the Netherlands in Debrecen, Hungary. Sweden took silver and Germany bronze.

Milorad Cavic of Serbia swam 49.19 to win gold in the 100 butterfly and set a European record, missing breaking Ian Crocker’s world record by 0.12 seconds. Rafael Munoz Perez of Spain took second, with Nikolay Skvortsov third.

European champion Marleen Veldhuis won the women’s 100 freestyle, while Austria’s Dinko Jukic won the men’s 400 individual medley. Sanja Jovanovic of Croatia took the 100 backstroke in a European-record time of 56.87.

Results:

Women’s:

800m freestyle: 1 Alessia Filippi (ITA) 8:04.53 WR; 2 Coralie Balmy (FRA) 8:05.32; 3 Lotte Friis (DEN) 8:09.91.

200m breaststroke: 1 Alena Alekseeva (RUS) 2:19.93; 2 Mirna Jukic (AUT) 2:20.48; 3 Patrizia Humplik (SWI) 2:21.68.

100m freestyle: 1 Marleen Veldhuis (NED) 51.95; 2 Jeanette Ottesen (DEN) 52.08; 3 Ranomi Kromowidjojo (NED) 52.22.

100m backstroke: 1 Sanja Jovanovic (CRO) 58.87; 2 Kateryna Zubkova (UKR) 57.01; 3 Laure Manaudou (FRA) 57.16.

50m butterfly: 1 Hinkelien Schreuder (NED) 25.21; 2 Jeanette Ottesen (DEN) 25.54; 3 Diane Bui Duyet (FRA) 25.55.

4X50m freestyle relay: 1. Netherlands 1:33.80 (Hinkelien Schreuder, Inge Dekker, Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Marleen Veldhuis); 2 Sweden 1:38.00 (Petra Granlund, Claire Hedenskog, Sarah Sjoestroem, Lovissa Ericsson); 3 Germany 1:38.06 (Dorothea Brandt, Petra Dallmann, Lisa Vitting, Daniela Schreiber).

Men’s:

400m medley: 1 Dinko Jukic (AUT) 4:03.01; 2 Gergo Kis (HUN) 4:03.81; 3 Lukasz Wojt (POL) 4:05.13.

100m breaststroke: 1 Igor Borysik (UKR) 57.33; 2 Hugues Duboscq (FRA) 57.64; 3 James Gibson (GBR) 57.91.

100m butterfly: 1 Milorad Cavic (SRB) 49.19; 2 Rafael Munoz Perez (ESP) 49.74; 3 Nikolay Skvortsov (RUS) 49.98.

50m backstroke: 1 Stanislas Donets (RUS) 23.22; 2 Aschwin Wildeboer (ESP) 23.28; 3 Lubos Krizko (SVK) 23.47.—Agencies