World record frenzy as swimming ignites in Melbourne

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2007

MELBOURNE (AFP) — On-fire Americans Michael Phelps, Natalie Coughlin and Aaron Peirsol all smashed world records Tuesday with Italy's Frederica Pellegrini also getting in on the act in a dynamic night of swimming.

Phelps obliterated the 200m freestyle record Ian Thorpe had held since 2001, shaving 0.2secs off the Australian great's time set at the world championships in Fukuoka, Japan, when he touched in one minute 43.86 seconds.

Not to be outdone, Coughlin followed it up with a stunning swim to crack her own five-year-old world record of 59.58 in the 100m backstroke. She held off French superstar Laure Manaudou to blitz the field and touch in 59.44.

Peirsol joined in the frenzy by breaking his own 100m backstroke world record in a time of 52.98, bettering...