It wasn’t that the class swimmers stayed away. Far from it, of the 169 athletes from 18 countries competing, eight of the top 14 men in the 2009 scoring and nine of the top 20 women were present.

The crowd was, however, rewarded with two World Cup marks — Australian Matthew Abood’s 100m freestyle swim of 45.46 and Swedish star Therese Alshammar’s 23.27 50m freestyle mark.

Such was the spread of medals on the night that there were few dual medal winners.

Tunisian Oussama Mellouli was the men's standout with two gold medals; South African Roland Schoeman gained a gold and silver and countryman Jay-Cee Thomson won two bronzes over 400m events.

British world record holder Francesca Halsall claimed two silvers and a bronze to finish with the most medals while Felicity Galvez dominated the shorter butterfly events for two gold medals.

Three other women gained two medals: Australian Emily Seebohm with a gold and bronze; South African Kathryn Meeklim with two silvers; and the Netherlands' Hinkelien Schreuder claiming silver and bronze medals.

The closest person to a world record — USA’s Whitney Myers — with a heart-breaking 0.19 off the 200IM mark, backed up with a bronze medal in the 200m backstroke.

Interestingly it was the sprints that once again gained the maximum points with Schoeman’s stunning 1101 points for his upstaging of world record holder Cameron Van Der Burgh (RSA) in the 50m breaststroke.

Sweden’s Therese Alshammar leads the women with 1067 points for her 50m freestyle record swim.

The races:
Australia’s Blair Evans opened the medals session with a clear victory in the women’s 800m freestyle, pulling away from Singapore’s Koh Wyn at the 650m mark for a useful 8:17.21 time. Koh faded, setting up a spectacular dead heat for second at 8:25.47 between South Africa’s Kathryn Meaklim and Hong Kong’s Au Hoi.

Australian Matthew Abood smashed the first record of the meet with a men’s 100m freestyle World Cup mark of 45.46, bettering Stefan Nystrand’s 45.54 mark set in Stockholm 11 days earlier. Abood was 0.08 under Frenchman Amaury Leveaux’s world best but could not maintain the pace, falling half a second short but well in front of South African Darian Townsend (46.43) and Australian Mitchell Patterson (46.91).

Briton Francesca Halsall set a far-too-quick a pace in the women’s 200m freestyle, bettering Italian Federica Pellegrini’s world record splits in the 50m and 100m but slowing in the third quarter of the race only to slip home in third place behind Sweden’s Petra Grandlund. Grandlund paced perfectly to come home in 1:54.76, just ahead of the in-form Inge Dekker of the Netherlands (1:54.80), who flanked Halsall (1:54.84).

The eagerly anticipated clash of the South African duo in the men’s 50m breaststroke ended where it started with breaststroke part-timer Roland Schoeman getting the better of world record holder Cameron Van Der Burgh. Schoeman won surprisingly in World Cup time in Durban in the first leg but in the meantime Van Der Burgh stamped his authority on the event but it was Schoeman who lunged from well out to take the Singapore win in 25.58, ahead of Van Der Burgh’s 25.76 and Brazil’s Felipe Da Silva (25.88). The win was still 0.33 outside the world mark set by Van Der Burgh a week ago in Berlin.

The next most anxious wait for a world record came straight after when world record holder Liesel Jones (AUS) matched up with Jessica Hardy (USA) in the women’s 100m breaststroke. Hardy turned nearly half a second under world-record pace at the 100m mark and stretched the lead over Jones, who grabbed the 1:03 standard in Berlin. Both Jones and Hardy went under the world record last week but tonight was not their celebration but that of Australian Sarah Katsoulis, who gunned down both champions at the line from lane three. Katsoulis stalked both and roared home in a 33.09 split, more than a second faster than Hardy and just under half a second ahead of Jones.

Tunisian Olympic 1500m freestyle champion Oussama Mellouli won the 400m IM from Japan’s Tomohisa Honzaki (4:06.96), who in turn was a fingernail ahead of South African Jay-Cee Thomson (4:06.97). Mellouli looked comfortable in the relative anonymity of lane one to touch in 4:05.79. However, he did trail Honzaki at the 150m and 250m marks.
Felicity Galvez (AUS) was off her world-record pace of November 10 in Stockholm but still won gold in the women’s 100m butterfly with a swift 56.07 from a fast-finishing Francesca Halsall (GBR, 56.91) and Australian Jess Schipper (57.55). The win in the sticky heat of Singapore was 0.61 behind her world best.

Seven-times Olympic gold medallist and World Cup record holder Peter Marshall (USA) was upstaged in the men’s 100m backstroke. He looked in control of the race but his long underwater kick in the final lap proved his downfall as Brazilian Guilherme Guido used his windmill style to great effect, building up tidal-power momentum to finish first in 49.63. He clearly had eight strokes before Marshall appeared from the depths. Marshall touched in 49.67 and Arkady Vyatchanin (RUS), the 200m world-record-breaker in Berlin, was third in 50.09. There were some class acts left in the wash with Austria’s Markus Rogan fourth, Australian Ashley Delaney fifth and USA great Aaron Piersol, who qualified eighth and was making his 2009 World Cup debut, was sixth in 50.68.

The women’s 50m backstroke was a blanket finish but it was an Australian quinella with Emily Seebohm first in 26.55 and last year’s World Cup champion Marieke Guehrer second in 26.57. The Netherlands’ Hinkelien Schreuder was third in 26.70 from lane two.

Brazilian Kaio Almeida’s world mark of 1:49.11 held in the men’s 200m butterfly, even though Australia’s Nick D’Arcy twice went under world-record pace in the day only to fall off the mark. D’Arcy repeated his morning effort of a record 100m split but he didn’t reckon on Japan’s Kazuya Kaneda, who came back at D’Arcy at the 150m mark only to be shrugged off. Kaneda was not to be denied and his long underwater kick off the last wall saw him emerge ahead and surged away for a 1:51.54 finish. D’Arcy (1:51.99) was second and a distant Lachlan Staples (AUS) touched in 1:54.70 was third.

The closest assault on a world mark came in the women’s 200m backstroke with the USA’s Witney Myers making a mockery of the splits, being 1:06 under at the 100m and a staggering 1:03 at the 150m but it was not to be with the freestyle leg appearing too hard to conquer, finishing a heart-wrenching 0.19 off Hungarian Evelyn Verraszto’s mark set in Moscow on November 6. Her 2:06.20 was well clear of South African Kathryn Meaklim’s 2:08.06 and Australian Emily Seebohm’s 2:08.39. Myers slapped her head after realising she had come so close.

Tunisia’s Oussama Mellouli became the first double gold medallist of the meet with a last-gasp victory in the 400m freestyle. Australia’s Robert Hurley had the edge for most of the race and even appeared to rise to the top ahead of Mellouli in the final lap. Mellouli then stretched ahead only to see Hurley put in a burst. However, Mellouli’s long arms reached out to touch in 3:39.18 ahead of Hurley’s 3:39.42 and South African Jay-Cee Thomson in 3:41.09. It was Thomson’s second bronze behind a Mellouli victory.

The second World Cup record in Singapore fell to Sweden’s Therese Alshammar with a from-the-front charge in the 50m freestyle. It was the second time she bettered the World Cup mark this year after a 23.34 in Berlin a week ago. Tonight’s 23.27 was particularly pleasing for the veteran star, so it seemed, such was her joy in the water. In her near wake was the Netherlands’ Hinkelien Schreuder in 23.53 and the USA’s Lara Jackson (24.04). It makes three World and three World Cup records on the circuit for Alshammar and brings her medal tally to eight gold, two silvers and a bronze.

Australian Christian Sprenger continued the world-class times, finishing three one-hundredths ahead of South Africa’s Neil Versfeld in the 200m breaststroke. Both have form but Sprenger is the world record holder from August and Versfeld the World Cup record holder from Berlin. Sprenger finished in 2:02.65 to Versfeld’s 2:02.68 with a final 10m burst. Japan’s Yuta Suenaga, the fastest qualifier who pressured Sprenger for much of the first 150m, faded to third in 2:04.43.

South African Darian Townsend, who twice beat Michael Phelps in recent World Cup meets in 200m IM events, creamed the field in the men’s 100m IM, but was 0.81 off world-record pace at the 50m mark. His clear victory of 52.11 was a huge advantage over second-placed Daniel Arnamnart (AUS), who finished in 54.17 and team-mate Leith Brodie in 54.35.

Elizabeth Simmonds did Great Britain proud with a fast 2:01.48 women’s 200m backstroke time, well clear of South Africa’s Amanda Loots (2:05.01) and USA’s near-record-beater Whitney Myers (2:06.22). The time was just off Japan’s Shiho Sakai’s 2:00.18 world record set in Berlin a week ago.

The final event was a blast with a class line-up right across the pool but it wasn’t to be for South African Roland Schoeman, losing in the touch to lane six’s Nicholas Dos Santos (BRA). Dos Santos had the best turn but Schoeman hit back only to have Dos Santos touch two lanes to his right in 22.16. Schoeman (22.27) and Australia’s comeback kid Geoff Huegill, who had the wash of both swimmers to contend with, was third in 22.50.

Leading swimmers on day one:
Men:
1      SCHOEMAN Roland RSA 1101    25.58   50 breast
2       VAN DER BURGH Cameron   RSA 1078    25.76   50 breast
3       SILVA  Felipe   BRA 1063    25.88   50 breast
4       SANTOS Nicholas BRA 1047    22.16   50 fly
5       ABOOD Matthew   AUS 1039    45.46   100 free
6       SPRENGER Christian  AUS 1038    2:02.65 200 breast
7       VERSFELD Neil   RSA 1037    2:02.68 200 breast
8       GUIDO Guilherme BRA 1019    49.63   100 back
9       MARSHALL Peter  USA 1017    49.67   100 back
10      HUEGILL Geoff   AUS 1000    22.50   50 fly

Women:
1       ALSHAMMAR Therese   SWE 1067    23.27   50 free
2       KATSOULIS Sarah AUS 1047    1:03.73 100 breast
3       HARDY Jessica   USA 1040    1:03.87 100 breast
4       SIMMONDS Elizabeth  GBR 1035    2:01.48 200 back
5       SCHREUDER Hinkelien NED 1032    23.53   50 free
6       MYERS Whitney   USA 1028    2:06.20 200 im
7       JONES Leisel    AUS 1019    1:04.30 100 breast
8       GALVEZ Felicity AUS 1013    56.07   100 fly
9       SEEBOHM Emily   AUS 1011    26.55   50 back
10      GUEHRER Marieke AUS 1009    26.57   50 back