From Canwest News Service

Brent Hayden beat Olympic champion Pieter Van Den Hoogenband as Canada won three medals on the final day of competition at the SwimCup in Eindhoven, Netherlands on Sunday.

Hayden, from Mission, B.C., beat the Dutch champion in his home country. The Netherlands team was using the event as one of their Olympic qualifiers. Hayden slipped off the start, but still clocked 48.67 seconds. Van Den Hoogenband was second in 48.78 and Mitja Zastrow of the Netherlands third in 49.77. Matt Rose of Victoria was fifth.

“Brent’s back foot slipped off the start so he had to play catch-up,” said Pierre Lafontaine, Swimming Canada’s national coach. “He said he kicked so hard after the start that his legs were shaking. He kept his composure and never lost his concentration. It was a great swim.”

Annamay Pierse and Keith Beavers also reached the top of the podium, bringing Canada’s gold-medal count up to nine for the four-day event.

Edmonton’s Pierse won her third gold medal of the weekend, but was unable to set her third straight Canadian record in winning Sunday’s 100-metre breaststroke race in 1:08.53.

Simone Weiler of Germany was second in 1:09.73 and Elise Matthyssen of Belgium third in 1:10.10. Pierse broke Canadian records in her 50 and 200 breaststroke races this week and also had a silver in the 200 individual medley earlier this week.

“After breaking the records she was a little disappointed she couldn’t do it again,” said Lafontaine. “But she had a great week with some amazing races. What we’ve seen are the results of some great preparation.”

In the men’s 400 individual medley Beavers, of London, Ont., notched the win in 4:19.53 finishing more than five seconds ahead of his closest pursuer. Brian Johns of Vancouver was fourth.

“I was a little disappointed with the race,” said Beavers. “The time was decent but I could have gone a 4:18 low in the race. But I’m struggling with the control of my butterfly and I paid for it at the end of my race. But I think that should be an easy fix. Also I probably would have brought it home faster if I had someone closer to me.”

Tanya Hunks of Vancouver and Mathieu Bois of Montreal each added a silver medal. Canada ended the four-day meet with nine gold medals, nine silver and five bronze.

Hunks collected her fourth medal of the competition in the women’s 400 IM while Bois was second in the men’s 100 breaststroke with Scott Dickens of Vancouver fifth in the same race.