 Mark Foster was 0.2 seconds ahead of his nearest rival |
British swimmer Mark Foster won the 50m freestyle on day one of the European Short-Course Championships in Italy. The 35-year-old clocked 21.27 seconds, to finish ahead of France's Frederick Bousquet and Dutchman Johan Henkhuis.
Foster also took bronze in the 4x50m medley relay, which also featured Liam Tancock, Chris Cook and Matthew Clay.
Austria's Markus Rogan and Hungary's Lazlo Cseh set world records as they took gold in the 200m backstroke and 200m individual medley respectively.
There was also a European record for Russia's Yury Prilukov in the men's 400m freestyle in Trieste.
 |  That's the fastest I've swum in four years |
He finished in 3:37.81, improving by nearly two seconds the five-year-old mark of Italy's Massimiliano Rosolino.
Rogan clocked one minute 50.43 seconds to beat the previous mark of 1:50.52 set by American Aaron Peirsol in Indianapolis in October 2004.
Cseh managed 1:53.46 seconds in the men's 200m individual medley final to eclipse the record of l:53.93 set by George Bovell of Trinidad in March 2003.
Foster's victory in the 50m free gave him a hat-trick of titles in the event, having previously won in Vienna and Dublin.
"That's the fastest I've swum in four years," he told www.britishswimming.org:
"I've been doing a lot of work and I've spent a great deal of time training in California with coach Dave Salo and Jason Lezak and it's been very good for me.
"It's been a long time since I trained with someone on my level and it's reaping its rewards."
MMIX
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