By MICHAEL McGARRY Staff Writer, (609) 272-7185, E-Mail

ATLANTIC CITY - The Around the Island Marathon Swim turned into a sprint Saturday.

Stephane Gomez of France and Mark Saliba of Australia swam the last 100 yards of the 221/2 -mile race side-by-side.

The crowd on the deck of the Flying Cloud Restaurant at Gardner's Basin roared.

Gomez and Saliba collided. Gomez surged ahead. He reached up and touched the board at the finish line and won. The Around the Island swim started in 1953 and this was one of its most thrilling finishes.

Gomez, 27, won in a course-record 6 hours, 37 minutes, 9 seconds. Saliba swam 6:37:10. Bulgaria's Petar Stoychev, the No. 1-ranked marathon swimmer, finished third in 6:44:03. Stephen Lecat of France set the previous course record of 6:54 in 2001.

Gomez emerged from the water smiling and waving to the crowd.

"This is good for me," said Gomez, who speaks little English. "I'm happy. I won and I have the best time ever."

Neither Gomez nor Saliba seemed surprised that a 221/2-mile swim was decided by one second.

"There are a lot of swimmers at the same level," Gomez said. "All the swimmers come together at the end."

The swim around Absecon Island is one of the highlights of the local summer sports season. It is part of the 2004 FINA Marathon Swimming World Cup series. FINA governs world swimming.

Twelve men and 11 women swam Saturday. All finished. Angela Maurer of Germany was the first female finishing in 7:00:41.

Gomez and Maurer, who finished sixth overall, each received $5,000 from the $25,000 purse.

The race began at 8 a.m. at Gardner's Basin. Many of the swimmers smeared themselves with petroleum jelly to keep warm before jumping into the water.

Crowds gathered at different spots on the course to cheer for the swimmers.

Most spectators seemed amazed by the swimmers' efforts.

One observer said he wouldn't sit in a bathtub that long.

A house in the Ventnor back bays blared the "Rocky" theme as the swimmers went by.

"It's good for the swimmers," Gomez said, "when you hear the people say, 'go, go, go.' "

Gomez led most of the way. The swimmers quickly moved through the ocean leg reaching the Longport Jetty in slightly less than three hours.

"The first part was very quick," Gomez said. "We swim strong. After we turned (into the back bays), it was a little hard."

The wind was in the swimmers' face in the back bays.

Gomez held a slight advantage over Saliba.

Saliba took the lead at the Brigantine Bridge.

"I'm not that much of a sprinter," Saliba said. "I thought I tried to break him early. I thought I had him."

He did not.

Gomez said he was fine with Saliba taking the lead at that point.

"I swim easy for the sprint," he said.

Before he could sprint, however, Gomez had to find the finish line. Boats blocked his view.

"I was saying 'Where is the finish?' " he said. "The boats moved. I see the finish, and I go."

Neither Gomez nor Saliba made much of their collision before the finish.

"When it comes to a finish like that," Saliba said, "you're just putting our heads down in the water and going as hard as you can. Generally, you crash into each other. It's not (poor) sportsmanship or anything."

Gomez began marathon swimming full-time in 2000. His only other Around the Island Swim appearance came in 2001 when he finished sixth in 7:21:21.

Saturday's win establishes him as one of the world's best marathon swimmers. Gomez won a 57-kilometer race in Argentina in February.

After Saturday's race, medical personnel examined Gomez. The swimmer then politely asked them where he could throw up.

He walked over to a sewer grate, vomited several times and smiled.

No one said swimming 221/2 miles was easy.