Article paru dans le Gardian
Golden girl Manaudou closing on magical markPARIS, Aug 7 (Reuters) - France's Laure Manaudou, who won a record four individual gold medals in the European championships last week, is inevitably marching towards the mythical four-minute barrier in the 400m freestyle event.
The 19-year-old Manaudou broke her own world record by clocking an astounding 04:02.13 in Budapest on Sunday at the end of a gruelling week in which she also won three bronze medals.
The attractive Manaudou, brand representative for luxury bag manufacturer Lancel, emulated East Germany's Ute Geweniger and Hungary's Krisztina Egerszegi who in 1981 and 1993 by winning four individual golds at a single European championships.
She also became only the second swimmer to have won seven medals after Germany's Franziska van Almsick in 1993.
"She passed a mark. It was the first time she was swimming so much at the international level. There is a huge improvement, it's good," Manaudou's coach Philippe Lucas told French sports daily L'Equipe on Monday.
"But she has yet to reach the level of Ian Thorpe or Michael Phelps. They are able to do that at world level. Laure is not ready for this yet."
Manaudou's performance, however, suggested she has what it takes to become the new Janet Evans.
The American still holds the oldest world record in women's swimming, the 1,500m freestyle mark set in 1988, but has lost the second oldest to Manaudou.
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