Bernard's Last Test Is A Solid 21.87
2008-06-29
Craig Lord
The Frenchman checked into the Olympic ready room with his 8th sub-22sec blast over 50m freestyle this year

Alain Bernard (FRA) raced below 22sec for the eighth time this year when he clocked 21.87 at the Scottish national championships in Glasgow to defeat France teammate Amaury Leveaux, the European record holder at 21.38. Leveaux was well off the pace, on 22.47.

Bernard's coach Denis Auguin expressed his happiness with the Frenchman's consistency and the manner in which he had raced.

Here are Bernard's best 10 times:


21.50 2008
21.66 2008
21.67 2008
21.69 2008
21.76 2007
21.83 2008
21.87 2008
21.97 2008
21.97 2008
22.10 2008

Laure Manaudou (FRA) shied away from what would have been her final 400m free before defending her Olympic crown in Beijing. The Scot who beat her in the 200m backstroke, Hannah Miley, raced to victory in the 200m medley in 2:14.81 and 10 minutes later was back in the water on her way to finishing second in the 400m free, the win going to Camille Muffat (FRA) in 4:06.68, Miley on 4:10.43, ahead of Sophie Huber (FRA), on 4:11.08.  

Patrick Miley, the Scot's coach and father, told the media: 'I am really expecting Hannah to slow up a bit as the weekend goes on, but with her, you can never say for sure. Her times are good despite her training schedule remaining demanding, and it will be tough for her tomorrow with the 200m breaststroke and the 1500m freestyle to contend with. After the weekend the real preparations for Beijing can begin in earnest and we will ease off a little prior to the ASA Nationals in Liverpool, which we are both looking forward to.'  

Manaudou, in heavy training, suffered another defeat, this time in one of her Olympic medal-winning events, the 100m backstroke, the touch going to Georgia Davies, based at Britain's Swansea Performance Centre, in 1:01.74, a Welsh record, to the Frenchwoman's 1:02.34.

Ben Stasiulis (FRA) claimed the 200m backstroke, in 2:00.37 and Chris Cook (GBR) claimed the 100m breaststroke in 1:01.76.