Hayden leads a trio of Canadians to the podium in France

Three Canadians – Olympics-bound Brent Hayden of Mission, B.C.,, Barbara Jardin of Montreal and Audrey Lacroix of Pont-Rouge, Que., – mounted the podium as the Mare Nostrum circuit completed its second night at Canet-en-Rousillon in France. In the men's 100-metre freestyle, Hayden clocked 49.00 seconds to win the silver medal, beaten to the wall by Hanser Garcia of Cuba in 48.89.

"There were a lot fast people in this race and that's why I came over here." said Hayden, the 2007 world champion and runner-up at last year's worlds in the 100 freestyle. "I knew Yannick was going to be tough and I was really happy that I held him off. I went faster here than in Barcelona on the weekend and I just want to keep getting better."

In the women's 400-metre freestyle, Camille Muffat of France set a meet record of 4:02.97 with Jardin a distant second in 4:09.46.

Two Canadians battled for bronze in the women's 200-metre butterfly. Lacroix prevailed in 2:11.05 just ahead of Katerine Savard of Pont-Rouge in fourth at 2:11.61. Martina Granstrom of Sweden was the winner in 2:08.96.

There were three more fourth place finishes for Canadian women.

The third and final stop on the circuit is Saturday and Sunday in Monte Carlo.