James Magnussen undefeated in 100m free after comeback

Dual world champion James Magnussen is undefeated in the 100m freestyle after two meets in his comeback tour of Europe.

James Magnussen has won two from two in the 100m freestyle. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Dual world champion James Magnussen is undefeated in the 100m freestyle after two meets in his comeback tour of Europe.

Magnussen had not competed internationally in the 100m freestyle for more than a year before arriving at the Mare Nostrum series in southern Europe last week and has now begun to re-establish himself as a leading international contender.

He won his first race back in Monte Carlo last weekend and improved by more than half a second on that effort to defeat a strong field in Barcelona last night, clocking 48.68 sec.

Brazilian Olympic finalists Bruno Fratus finished second (48.68sec) with Cuban Olympic finalists Garcia Hernandez-Hanser third (48.83sec) and Australia’s former world No. 1 Cameron McEvoy fourth (48.86sec).

Magnussen opted out of this year’s world championships to give himself more time to recover completely from a shoulder reconstruction two years ago and believes he is back to his real form for the first time in three years, since his victory at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

He expects to continue improving throughout the five-meet series he has scheduled in Europe, that will culminate in next month’s French Open.

Magnussen was one of three Australian winners in Barcelona last night, joined by backstroke world champions Emily Seebohm and Mitch Larkin, who will defend their titles in Budapest next month.

Seebohm set a meet record of 58.99 sec to win the 100m backstroke, while Larkin was untroubled in winning the 200m backstroke in 1:57.48.

Swedish sprint star Sarah Sjostrom continued to shine downing the Bronte and Cate Campbell and Dutch Olympic gold medallist (2012) Ranomi Kromowidjojo.

Sjostrom was the only sub-24-second performer, winning in 23.96 sec, from Kromowidjojo (24.29sec), reigning world champion Bronte Campbell (24.66sec) and Cate Campbell (24.75ec), who is skipping the world titles.

Commonwealth 200m breaststroke champion Taylor McKeown demonstrated that she is approaching her best form with a strong second place in 2:22.29, the third fastest time in the world this year and her fastest since the Rio Olympic final.

Russian Olympic medallist Yulia Efimova, a controversial figure in the sport after serving two doping suspensions, won in the fastest time of the year, 2:19.83 sec, within a second of the world record.

Olympic medallist Emma McKeon was also on the podium in Barcelona, finishing third in the 200m freestyle (1:57.59), despite a heavy training load.