BERLIN - Brent Hayden continued his assault on the Canadian record book en route to capturing World Cup gold Saturday.
The Vancouver swimmer eclipsed his Canadian short-course record and swam third fastest all-time to win the men's 100-metre freestyle in a meet that featured six world records.
Hayden took the lead on the final turn, touching the wall in 45.56 seconds and lowering his previous mark of 45.75 he set Tuesday in winning silver in Stockholm, Sweden.
"It was as close as you can get to a perfect race," said Hayden. "I had my fastest first 50 metres and that set the tone for the rest of the swim. I'm usually trailing in the first part of the race but this time I was among the leaders and I didn't feel like I had to play catch-up."
Stefan Nystrand of Sweden, the winner in Stockholm, was second in 45.73, while Lyndon Ferns of South Africa finished third in 46.03.
Alexandra Gabor of Whitehorse won bronze in the women's 200 freestyle.
The first day of the weekend meet produced a flurry of world records. Shiho Sakai of Japan broke the women's 200 backstroke mark, Steffen Deibler of Germany improved his own 50 butterfly mark, Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa improved the 50 breaststroke record, Leisel Jones of Australia broke her own 100 breaststroke mark, Germany's Paul Biedermann shattered the 400-metre freestyle world record, and Sergey Fesikov Russia broke the 100 I.M. record in the heats.
American star Michael Phelps finished fifth in the 200-metre butterfly, competing in an old-style swimsuit that will become the standard on Jan. 1.
Only two swimmers have posted a faster time than Hayden in the 100 free - world-record holder Amaury Leveaux of France swam 44.94 last year, while Nystrand clocked 45.54 on Tuesday.
"This is exactly what we've been looking for in terms of his performances this week," said Tom Johnson, head coach of the Vancouver national training centre. "In a series like this, we're at different venues, the competitions are at different times, you have to change your routines but his performances just keep getting better and better."
Hayden opened his World Cup season earlier this month in Moscow, winning silver in the 100 and 200 freestyle, then added another silver in the 100 freestyle earlier this week in Sweden and took the gold in the 200 freestyle in Canadian-record time.
He'll wrap up his trip Sunday with races in the 50 and 200-metre freestyle.
Gabor notched her second bronze of the week, recording a Canadian age group record of 1:54.97.
Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden won the gold in 1:53.77, while Merinda Dingjan of Australia second in 1:54.62. Jennifer Beckberger of Ajax, Ont., was sixth in 1:56.00.
The 16-year-old Gabor, swimming in Lane 8, was fifth at the 150-metre mark before making a strong comeback to reach the podium.
"I couldn't see the field too well from my lane so I just tried to focus on my own race," said Gabor. "I didn't realize that I was behind most of the way. The only thing I was thinking was 'go.' The ending hurt a lot but I didn't want to regret anything at the end."
Biedermann bounced back from an injury to better the freestyle world record, winning in 3:32.77 to slash nearly two seconds off the old mark of 3:34:58 set by Grant Hackett of Australia on July 18, 2002.
Biedermann defeated Phelps in the 200 freestyle and broke the American's world record to win the gold medal at the world championships in Rome in August.
"I was more excited today than at the world championships, because I didn't really know what was possible for me because of my injury," said Biedermann, who tore a muscle in his left thigh and had to skip the Stockholm meet. "Without the high-tech suits, it will be difficult to improve this record in the future."
Nikolay Skvortsov of Russia won the 200 butterfly final in 1:50.58. Phelps squeezed in as the eighth and last qualifier in the heats.
The American, who won eight gold medals at last year's Beijing Olympics, finished in 1:52.26 in the final.
Phelps has yet to win a race on his European tour. He failed to make three finals in Stockholm this week, his best result a silver in the 200 I.M.
