Marleen Veldhuis (NED) shaved 0.04sec off fellow Dutchwoman Inge de Bruijn's world record for a 24.09sec victory in the 50m freestyle at the European Championships in her home pool in Eindhoven.

Veldhuis brought the sold-out crowd at the National Swim Center here to its feet. De Bruijn was on hand to present Veldhuis with a bunch of red tulips at the medal ceremony. The former Olympic champion bowed and pressed her palms together as if in prayer after giving Veldhuis the bouquet.

'I'm now the fastest woman in the water - long and short course. It is fantastic to compete in front of a home crowd,' Veldhuis said. 'I thought I swam the perfect race yesterday, but I managed to go quicker.'

Veldhuis led a Dutch 1-2 in the race, with Hinkelien Schreuder finishing exactly half a second back. Therese Alshammar of Sweden was third in 24.71. On the first day of the championships, Veldhuis anchored the Dutch 4x100m freestyle quartet to a world record, and two days later won the 100 freestyle title.

Alain Bernard (FRA) claimed his second crown of the championships in 21.66sec in the 50m freestyle. For the first 20m it looked as though Bernard would not break free of the pack. But as the field faded a touch, the 24-year-old Frenchman ploughed on, falling just shy of the world mark of 21.50 he set on Sunday in the semi-final.

Duje Draganja (CRO) was second in 22.00 and Stefan Nystrand (SWE) third in 22.16. 'Today, my aim was to win the title,' said the triple world-record setter. 'After these three crazy days, it was difficult to remain sane.'