Swimming: Records tumble at world champs

BARCELONA - Rising Japanese star Kosuke Kitajima says his eyes are firmly fixed on reclaiming the 200m breaststroke world record after lowering the 100m breaststroke mark yesterday on his way to his country's first gold at a world championships.

Kitajima's record was one of three broken on the second day of competition, with Australian duo Matt Welsh and Leisel Jones getting the ball rolling within minutes of each other in the men's 50m butterfly final and women's 100m breaststroke semifinal respectively.

The 20-year-old from Tokyo followed suit by clocking 59.78s to better the previous record of 59.94s set by Russia's Roman Sloudnov at the last world titles in Fukuoka, Japan, two years ago.

And after becoming Japan's first world swimming champion, Kitajima believes that he can achieve the same in the 200m breaststroke, which gets under way today.

He is confident he can claim the title after taking bronze over the 200m breaststroke in Fukuoka and winning the event at the Asian Games in a world-record time of 2m 09.97s last October.

That record was shattered in June by Russian Dimitri Komornikov, who clocked 2m 09.52s.

"I knew that I could get in the late 59s [in the 100m]," Kitajima said. "And now I'm hoping for 2m 08s in the 200m.

"I hope that this gold medal will inspire the Japanese team."

Kitajima is the first Asian to hold a world record since Nobutaka Taguchi, also of Japan, set the 100m breaststroke record in 1972.

Kitajima headed a world-class field at the Palau Sant Jordi pool yesterday, with Olympic and world champion Domenico Fioravanti, of Italy, well beaten in sixth.

The silver went to Brendan Hansen, of the United States, in 1m 00.21s, while Britain's James Gibson took the bronze in 1m 00.37s.

Welsh, best known as a backstroker, caused the biggest shock when he broke the 50m butterfly record in an inspired sprint which caught his rivals cold.

The slowest qualifier for the final, Welsh got out of the blocks fast and blasted away from his more fancied rivals down the outside eighth lane, hitting the wall in 23.43s - 0.01s inside the mark set by fellow Australian Geoff Huegill at the 2001 world championships.

American Ian Crocker, the fastest man in the heats and semifinals, had to settle for silver in 23.62s, with Russia's Yevgeny Korotychkin third in 23.73s.

"Oh my God, I've won. Oh my God, it's a world record," Welsh said.

"Damn, I've got another race," he added, reminding himself that he had a semifinal to come in his 100m backstroke title defence.

He successfully negotiated that to qualify joint fourth-fastest overall for tomorrow's final.

Jones, an Olympic and world silver medallist, plucked her world record out of the semifinals, sweeping through the 100m breaststroke in 1m 06.37s to beat the mark of 1m 6.52s set by South Africa' Penny Heyns in 1999.

Jenny Thompson, 30, struck a blow for swimming's older generation when she won her second gold medal in two days, taking her overall world championship medal tally to a record 11 - seven gold, three silver and one bronze.

She overtakes former East German swimmer Kornelia Ender and Shirley Babashoff, of the United States, who won 10 each.

Thompson, who anchored the United States to victory in Monday's 4x100m freestyle relay, trailed at the halfway mark of the 100m butterfly final, but surged through on the return length to regain the title she won in 1998.

Thompson, world 100m butterfly and 100m freestyle champion in 1998, was chased home by Poland's Otylia Jedrzejczak and Slovakia's Martina Moravcova, but they could not catch the American, who is enjoying a triumphant comeback after retiring following the 2000 Olympics.

Thompson, a medical student who won a title at the Pan-American Games in 1987 when she was 14, said that the idea of winning a world gold 16 years later would have seemed unbelievable.

Fellow American Natalie Coughlin, suffering from a high temperature and eliminated in the morning's heats of her 100m backstroke title defence, trailed home last.

Thompson, who already holds the most Olympic gold medals for any US woman with eight, ties with Matt Biondi as the country's most decorated world championship swimmer.

* North Shore backstroker Hannah McLean narrowly missed becoming the first New Zealander to qualify for a final.

McLean broke her own national record in the heats of the 100m backstroke to qualify for the semifinals, where she finished as the 12th fastest, just missing a place in the final.

She produced a stunning swim in the heats to record 1m 2.15s, taking 0.12s off her previous record set at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester 12 months ago.

McLean beat the Commonwealth Games champion, Sarah Price, of Britain, in the process and was second out of the Commonwealth swimmers, behind Britain's Katy Sexton from the 60 starters.

McLean swam 1m 2.46s in the semifinal, turning in a competitive 30.13s, but faded slightly in competitive company over the final 50m.

Her North Shore clubmate, Cameron Gibson, missed a semifinal spot, despite breaking an eight-year-old New Zealand mark in the 100m backstroke.

Gibson produced a superb swim to clock 56.22s, clipping 0.04s off Jonathon Winter's 1995 record.

Gibson was only 1.4s behind Welsh, the top qualifier, but he could finish no higher than 28th.

The performance would have given Gibson plenty of encouragement for his favoured event, the 200m on Friday, while McLean swims the 50m backstroke tomorrow.

The main New Zealand focus in today's heats is on Alison Fitch in the 200m freestyle, with Helen Norfolk swimming the event as a loosener, as is Dean Kent in the men's 200m butterfly.

- AGENCIES