(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-12-14 10:57

DEBRECEN, Hungary  - Hungarian Laszlo Cseh and Poland's Otylia Jedrzejczak set world records on the opening day of the European short-course swimming championships on Thursday.

Otylia Jedrzejczak of Poland shows her gold medal after wining the women's 200 metre butterfly competition during the European Short Course Swimming Championships in Debrecen, 240 km (150 miles) east of Budapest, December 13, 2007. [Agencies]

Jedrzejczak, the Olympic 200 metres butterfly champion, smashed her own world record by more than one second to clock two minutes 3:53 seconds.

The Pole, who celebrated her 24th birthday on Thursday, stayed back early in the race and made her first turn in sixth place before slowly moving away from her competitors.

"You never expect to break a world record and I didn't even know it until I looked up on the board," Jedrzejczak said. "It is a very nice birthday gift."

Cseh took the lead in the men's 200 individual medley from the gun and won in a world record time of 1:52.99, despite letting up and coasting the final 25 metres.

The record came as no surprise to Cseh, who predicted his time to the hundredth of a second ahead of the race.

"I really wanted to break this world record," Cseh said. "Two days ago, I wrote my prediction on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope," he added as he pulled out the sheet with his eventual winning time.

In the 50 metres freestyle, world record holder Stefan Nystrand of Sweden did not give the field a chance and won easily.

"This is good training, good competition for the Olympics," Nystrand said. "But I feel tired by the many races in the past few weeks."

Nystrand set two short course world records in Berlin in November but an Olympic medal eluded him in both 2000 and 2004.

Austria's Markus Rogan, a twice silver medallist at the 2004 Athens Games, dominated the men's 200 backstroke and won in a European record of 1:49:86, a good three to four metres clear of the field.

French Olympic champion Laure Manaudou, who has entered five events, easily sailed through the 100 backstroke rounds to qualify for Friday's final with the fastest time.