Thiago Pereira (BRA) and Therese Alshammar (SWE) - credit: GM D'Alberto (LaPresse)

Clearly being a short-course specialist (15 medals, including nine gold, at the FINA World Swimming World Championships 25m, and an outstanding 108 medals in the World Cup, since 1994), Alshammar has also a respectable roll of honour in 50m-pool: three Olympic medals and six podium places at the FINA World Championships (including one win, in the 50m butterfly at the 2007 edition in Melbourne, Australia). She doesn’t intend to retire soon, having announced that the 2012 Olympic Games in London (GBR) are still on her competitive agenda.

For Pereira, this is the first victory in the World Cup, after being third in 2007. The Brazilian medley specialist was even more impressive in his victory, being the best performer in all meets but Tokyo (JPN), where he was “only” fourth, and Stockholm (SWE), where he had the second best result of the meet - 912 points for his 400m individual medley triumph (4:04.62).

Born in 1986, Pereira is known for his versatility in the pool (he was the clear dominator of the medley events in this World Cup), having made his international “appearance” at the 2004 FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) in Indianapolis (USA), where he obtained four medals (including the gold in the 200m IM). Lacking medals at FINA 50m major events, he was nevertheless the hero of the 2007 Pan-American Games in Rio de Janeiro (BRA), when he got an impressive tally of six gold medals, one silver and one bronze.

Pereira and Alshammar will receive each US$ 100’000, while the second highest prize money (US$ 50’000) will go for Darian Townsend (RSA) in the men’s category and for Julia Smit (USA) in the women’s ranking. In general, South Africans and North Americans always performed well at the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup, but this is the first time that both Townsend (126 points) and Smit (128 points) reach the podium of this competition. They share one more common characteristic: they are both the current World Record holders in the short-course 200m individual medley (Smith also holds the world’s best mark in the 400m IM). Townsend set his WR at the Berlin leg of the 2009 World Cup (1:51.55), while Smit established her WR, one month later, in December 2009 in Manchester (GBR) – 2:04.60.

As a career highlight, Smit got two medals at the 2008 Olympic Games – silver in the 4x100m free relay and bronze in the 4x00m free relay -, and Townsend was part of the South African “golden relay” in the 4x100m free relay at the 2004 Olympics in Athens (GRE).

Swimming with Townsend in the Hellenic capital, Roland Schoeman (30 years old) finished in the third place of the 2010 ranking, totalling 74 points. Second of this classification in 2005 and 2009, the South African star is also the current WR holder in the short-course 50m free (20.30). With three medals in Athens 2004 – besides his gold in the relay, he was silver medallist in the 100m free and third in the 50m free -, he has also five awards (including three gold) at the FINA World Championships.

Finally, Hinkelien Schreuder (NED) closed the top-3 ranking among women, accumulating 60 points. Also third in 2009, the Dutch swimmer (26 years old) is the WR holder of the 100m IM (57.74, from 2009) and has one Olympic (2008) and World (2009) gold as reserve member of her country’s 4x100m free relay. At the FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) she medalled on three occasions, namely winning gold in the 4x100m free relay at both the 2006 edition in Shanghai (CHN) and the 2008 edition in Manchester (GBR).

One World Cup record was established in the 2010 edition of the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup, in the women’s 200m free at the Berlin leg (Femke Heemskerk, NED, stopped the clock at 1:52.42). In terms of performances, the best absolute mark among women were the 974 points obtained by Alshammar in Stockholm, while in the men’s field, Thiago Pereira’s effort in Rio de Janeiro in the 200m IM (1:52.72 – 969 points) was the reference.

Highlights of Day 2 in Stockholm
The second day of the last leg of the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup in Stockholm (SWE) was highlighted by several performances over 900 points at the Eriksdalsbadet complex.

Among men, Sébastien Roualt (FRA) opened the finals session with a “solitary” win in the 1500m free, touching home in 14:37.94 (907 points). Exactly the same value had the 23.35 triumph of Peter Marshall (USA) in the 50m backstroke (23.35, the best victory time in this event in 2010 – in Beijing, Marshall had clocked 23.38).

The best performance in the men’s events in the Swedish capital came from Darian Townsend (RSA), in the 200m individual medley (1:54.47 – 925 points), thus contributing to assure his second position in the overall ranking.

Very close to the 900 points, Paul Biedermann (GER) got a thrilling victory (1:43.03 – 897 points) in the 200m free, beating his main challenger – Yannick Agnel (FRA) – by a mere 0.15 seconds. It was Biedermann’s second win in Stockholm, after his 400m free triumph on Day 1.

In the women’s events, Julia Smit (USA) was the first of the afternoon to enter in the “900 club”, with her comfortable win in the 400m individual medley – 4:28.59 (918 points). Her teammate Elaine Breeden earned the same points for her 200m butterfly victory in 2:04.26 (best time of the season, improving her 2:04.54 from Tokyo).

After winning the 200m free on the first day, Camille Muffat (FRA) was again the best in the 400m, touching first in 4:01.18 (924 points), while Hinkelien Schreuder (NED) got 904 points for her 100m IM triumph in 59.70.

On the 34 events contested at the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup, Stockholm registered the fastest winning time in 12 of them: among men, the 400m free (Paul Biedermann, GER, 3:41.27), the 1500m free (Sébastien Rouault, FRA, 14:37.94), the 50m backstroke (Peter Marshall, USA, 23.35), and the 100m backstroke (Marshall, 50.79); in the women’s, the 50m free (Hinkelien Schreuder, NED, 23.91), the 800m free (Lotte Friis, DEN, 8:20.66), the 200m backstroke (Belinda Hocking, AUS, 2:03.43), the 50m breaststroke (Jennie Johansson, SWE, 30.10), the 200m breaststroke (Rikke Pedersen, DEN, 2:20.39), the 100m butterfly (Therese Alshammar, SWE, 55.53), the 200m butterfly (Elaine Breeden, USA, 2:04.26), and the 200m IM (Julia Smit, USA, 2:07.17).