BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil - Brent Hayden and Scott Dickens, both of Vancouver, won gold medals on Saturday at the eighth and final stop on the World Cup short course swimming circuit.

Several Canadian swimmers showed food poisoning symptoms and four of them withdrew from their respective finals on Saturday.

In the men's 100-metre freestyle, Hayden clocked 48.08 just 0.03 off his Canadian short course record set last year. World championship bronze medallist Rick Neethling of South Africa was second in 48.26 and Guilherme Roth Dos Santos of Brazil third in 48.44.

"I consider this a building block for the Commonwealth Games," said Hayden, in regard to next month's Games in Melbourne, Australia. "It's nice to beat Neethling but I wouldn't have felt any different if he would have beaten me today. What I'm most pleased with today is my start which was a lot better."

Neethling, who won the 100-metre individual medley Saturday, entered the short-course meet atop the overall standings - 26 points ahead of Ukraine's Oleg Lisogor, who skipped the event.

The final standings after eight meets will be announced after Sunday's races, with the champion taking home $50,000 US. Winners in each individual race take home $1,500.

In the men's 200-metre breaststroke, Dickens placed first in 2:12.17 with Mark Gangloff of the U.S., second in 2:12.85 and Marcelo Augusto Tomazini of Brazil third in 2:13.00. Michel Boulianne of Montreal was fifth and Matthew Huang of Vancouver eighth.

"It was strange racing a final in the morning," said Dickens. "But I think it's really good preparation for the Games when you can race feeling tired. In the last 50 today I was dying but managed to hold on."

In the women's 200 freestyle, Olympic champion Camelia Potec of Romania turned on the jets to win the gold in 1:58.34. An ill-feeling Maya Beaudry of Vancouver, the top qualifier, was second in 2:00.69 while Manuella Lyrio of Brazil was third at 2:02.24.

"I was feeling a bit dizzy but there was no question that I wouldn't race," said Beaudry. "I've had some good 200's lately so I'm confident I can race it well. After the first half my legs really started to burn but I fought hard to the finish."

Other Canadian men's results: Matt Hawes of Vancouver and Nathan O‚Brien of Victoria were fourth and eighth in the 100 backstroke; Morgan Knabe of Victoria and Scott Dickens of Vancouver were sixth and eighth in the 50 breaststroke; and Darryl Rudolf of Vancouver was eighth in the 50 butterfly.

Brian Johns and Callum Ng, both of Vancouver, David Creel of Victoria and Jonathan Aubry of Montreal did not race due to illness.