By Amy Shipley

Jessica Hardy loudly announced her return to the sport this weekend.  In her first international meet since serving a one-year suspension — and missing the 2008 Summer Games — for taking a contaminated supplement, she set a world record and won a trio of gold medals.

At the opening FINA/Arena World Cup (short-course meters) in Durban, South Africa, Hardy lowered her own world best in the 50-meter breaststroke (29.45), approached Leisel Jones’s world mark in the 100 breast and won the 100 individual medley. At the U.S. Open, a more humble meet in Federal Way, Wash., this summer, Hardy had set world records in the 50 and 100 breast (long-course).

Hardy, who sported a Jaked, told Universal Sports she felt a “bit sick” after the 20-hour flight and had been doing a bit too much sightseeing, but was glad to get back in the pool. She earned a $10,000 bonus for the record.

“Really good to get the first race out of the way, shake out the cobwebs, get used to racing again,” Hardy said. “It’s been a while for me.”

Hardy hopes she can continue her strong run; the World Anti-Doping Agency and FINA, the world swimming governing body, have appealed an American arbitration panel’s decision last spring to halve her original two-year suspension for clenbuterol. A decision is expected before the end of the year.

Sweden’s Therese Alshammar, a former University of Nebraska star, pocketed $20,000, setting a world record in the preliminaries of the 100 individual medley (58.51) and another in the 50 fly final (24.75) while adding golds in the 50 free and 100 fly.

American Peter Marshall outdueled fellow Stanford grad and recent training partner Markus Rogan, a Mount Vernon High graduate, winning the 100 back title Friday before setting a world record in the 50 back (22.75) a day later.

In other news, Roland Schoeman surprisingly outsprinted world-record holder Cameron Van Der Burgh in the 50 breast; Van Der Burgh came back to win the 100 breast.

For Johannesburg Times Live story, click here.

For Swimming World’s event-by-event recap, click here.

For Universal Sports’s listing of results and videos, click here.

For Swim News recap, click here.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 18th, 2009 at 11:04 pm and is filed under International. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.