Apostolos Christou produced the points swim of the last day at the Giant Open in Paris this evening, his 53.09 win in the 100m backstroke helping to draw John Shortt to a second Irish record in 24 hours.

Christou, the Olympic silver medallist in the 200m backstroke, was out in 25.47, to Shortt's 26.51. On the way home, the Greek ace held on for the win, but the Irishman clawed back most of the deficit, finishing second in a national standard of 53.37 a day after rattling the 1:56 mark in the 200m to break another of his Irish marks. That made it 30 Irish records since the start of his run on national standards last year, which ended in a count of 28 records in a year.

Third home in the 100m back today in Paris was France's Yohann Ndoye Brouard in 54.15.

Other highlights included a 2:09.82 from Canada's Mary-Sophie Harvey in the 200m medley ahead of Ellen Walshe's 2:10.97 for Ireland; a 56.92 win for Angelina Köhler in the 100m butterfly; a 27.06 victory forItaly's Simone Cerasuolo in the 50m breaststroke ahead of Melvin Imoudu, of Germany, and World record holder Adam Peaty, of Britain, on respective times of 27.14 and 27.30; and a brace of 59s in the women's 100m backstroke, France's Pauline Mahieu the winner on 59.44 ahead of Dutch visitor Marrit Steenbergen, 59.78, with France's Béryl Gastadello on 1:00.21.

Other winners included Luca-Nik Armbruster (GER), 52.18, 100 'fly; Sacha Velly (FRA), 14:53.62, 1500m free; Artemis Vasilaki (GRE), 16:23.63 in the women's 1500m; Nika Godum (FRA) on 31.25 in the women's 50m breaststroke; and Gabriel Macho (BRA), on 2:00.63 in the 200IM.

Matsushita 4:06.9 Leads Kojima To Next WJR, 4:08.8, in 400IM at Japanese Championships.

Tomoyuki Matsushita threw down a thudding 4:06.93 to win the 400m medley at the Japan Swim today, the rival closest to him, Yumeki Kojima, setting yet another World junior record, of 4:08.84.

The Olympic silver medallist and Kojima were followed by a third sub-4:09, courtesy of Asaki Nishikawa, on 4:08.87.

Matsushita' best had been a 4:07.21. Today he sailed through these splits:

• 56.18; 2:00.52; 3:10.97 and closed with a 55.96 on freestyle

That last 100 paled by comparison to the extraordinary 53.45 split muster by Zhang at the China Open in the closing 100m of the 800m freestyle, his last two splits marking the fastest finish to an 800m race in history among swims that ended under 7:45:

Ponti Upholds ’Flyers Pride But Dash Of Day Was A Zhang Of An Outlier - Fastest 800 Finish Ever

The China Open was striking for four reasons: McEvoy’s master-class 20.88; money magnets that drew foreign stars to a charm offensive that doubled as domestic championships; the speed of Zhang as he beat Märtens in the 200, 400 & 800 free; and the very young age of many Chinese finalists

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Kojima, meanwhile, shaved 0.54sec off his previous best of 4:09.38. The top two qualified for the Pan Pacific Championships and Asian Games later this year.

The other highlights of the day unfolded in distance freestyle events. The women's 800m freestyle went to Ishika Kajimoto as she broke the 21-year-old Japanese record win Producing a time of 8:23.11, inside the standard held by Sachiko Yamada since 2004. Two days ago, she broke 16 minutes in the 1500m free for the first time.

In the men's 1500m free, Kaito Tabuchi clocked 14:45.57 to deliver Japan's first sub-14:50, the old mark having stood at 14:50.18 to Kazushi Imafuku since last year. Imafuku took silver today in 14:52.45.

In other finals, Satomi Suzuki, 35, took the 50m breaststroke in 30.32; Rikako Ikee the 50 free in 24.89; Shuya Matsumoto the men’s 50 freestyle in 21.89; Shoon Mitsunaga pipped Katsuhiro Matsumoto 51.32 to 51.35 in the 100 butterfly; and the men's 50 breaststroke produced a snap, Reo Miura and Riku Matsuyama both on 25.13.

SOS TIMELINE

On This Day In History - When Evans & Bernard Rewrote The Books

Timeline - The SOS Daily Trawl of official World long-course records (plus all pre 1954 standards, all pools and metrics) set this day throughout history.

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Also in the March Vortex:

• Virginia Cavaliers Make It A Record Sixth Straight NCAA Crown
• Steenbergen On A Roll & Shortt Cracks Irish 200 Back Mark At The Paris Open
• Shortt Takes Ireland's Shortest Time Over 200 Back
• WJRs For Shin Ohashi and Yumeki Kojima at Japan Swim
• Double Trouble From Steenbergen and Grousset As Evans Rattles Her record Again
• Evans Gathers Momentum For A Scottish Summer of Plenty
• Grousset Grabs Another Win Over Ponti As Giant Open Looms On Paris Horizon
• Stars Head to The Giant Open ...
• Freya Colbert Takes British 200 Free Record Below 1:55 In Edinburgh
• Filip Nowacki At The Double; Peaty Fourth In First Race Since Paris 2024 Silver
• Maxime Grousset Growls - 22.78 50 'fly in Lausanne
• Angharad Evans Scares Her Own British Record At Edinburgh International
• Florine Gaspard & Mary-Sophie Harvey At The Double In Lausanne
• Target Practice For A Summer Of Divided Speed
• Speed Unending From McKeown As Perkins Hauls Four Golds at the NSW Championships in Sydney
• Tuning Up In Westmont: Gretchen Walsh, Summer McIntosh, Katie Ledecky, Regan Smith, Kate Douglass, Sam Short, Léon Marchand, Carson Foster, Chris Guiliano were among those on the crest of the big-wave surfers starting their steady tune-up a the Swim Pro Series - Westmont

In other coverage

Over at The China Open:

Ponti Upholds ’Flyers Pride But Dash Of Day Was A Zhang Of An Outlier - Fastest 800 Finish Ever

The China Open was striking for four reasons: McEvoy’s master-class 20.88; money magnets that drew foreign stars to a charm offensive that doubled as domestic championships; the speed of Zhang as he beat Märtens in the 200, 400 & 800 free; and the very young age of many Chinese finalists

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Walsh Owns 11 Of Swiftest 100 ’Fly Swims Ever: No7 In At 55.22

China Open, Day 3: Gretchen Walsh Nails Her 16th & 17th Sub-56 100 ’Fly Swims; Zhang Outstrips Märtens With 3:41 Best 400 free; & Chalmers & Alexy Snap On 47.7 in 100 free

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Cameron McEvoy - 20.88 World Record 50m Free - Cielo’s 2009 Shiny Suit Standard Sunk

At The China Open in Shenzhen, Australian Olympic and World 50m freestyle champion has cracked the 20.91 global mark set by Brazil’s Cesar Cielo in the dying days of the short-lived shiny suits crisis in 2009

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

O’Callaghan Adds To Aussie Party With 1:53 Power Play For 200 Win At China Open

As Australian Mollie O’Callaghan delivered the second-best swim of the day, after a WR from teammate Cameron McEvoy, the China Open is the place to be for fast finalists aged 11-14 and racing for their Chinese clubs

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Zhang Just 0.14sec Shy Of Sun To Beat Märtens In 200 Free At China Open

China Open Day 1 : Zhang Zhanshuo scares disgraced Sun Yang’s China 200m free record 0.7sec ahead of Germany’s Olympic 400m champion Lukas Märtens; and Tang Qianting sets Asian 50m breaststroke record

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

U.S. Masters On Watch After Swimmer Threatened With Lifetime Ban For Backing Rules Protecting Women’s Category

Angie Griffin lost a woman’s Masters title to a male & called for U.S. Masters to adhere to the World Aquatics rule that preserves the women’s category for females only. Now, she faces a disciplinary, and U.S. Masters has in turn been put on notice by the Aquatics Integrity Unit.

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

SOS FORUM:

FORUM: Does McEvoy Tell Us Dressel Will Be The Last Man To Claim The 50-100 Olympic Double?

Pieter van den Hoogenband was a 100 and 200m Olympic champ who made the 50 podium and Ian Thorpe a 200 and 400m Olympic champion who made the 100 podium. But has Cam McEvoy made it clear that the 50 and 100 are diverging into separate clubs of sprinters?

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord