Records tumble, Phelps triumphs on first day

The first night of World Championship swimming yesterday saw six world records fall and Olympic superstar Michael Phelps back on the familiar winner's podium thanks to a sprint relay upset.

The half-dozen records yielded in the evening's eight events at the Foro Italico included two in one event.

Italy's Federica Pellegrini thrilled home fans by lowering her own world mark to win the women's 400m freestyle, and German Paul Biedermann also notched a world record in winning the men's 400m free.

The Netherlands' Olympic gold medal-winning women's 4x100m freestyle relay team lowered their world record to add a world title to their list of accomplishments - overcoming an individual 100m freestyle world record for Germany's Britta Steffen in the lead-off leg of that race.

Swedish teenager Sarah Sjostrom and American Ariana Kukors nabbed their world records in semi-finals - Sjostrom in the women's 100m butterfly and Kukors in the women's 200m individual medley.

The men's 4x100m free relay didn't produce a world record, just scintillating racing in which an American team led by Phelps and anchored by Nathan Adrian triumphed, Russia snatched silver and France's vaunted freestyle sprinters were relegated to bronze.

Adrian's final leg echoed Jason Lezak's gutsy performance in Beijing, when he caught Bernard on the final lap to secure the victory and keep Phelps on course to win a record eight gold medals at one Olympic Games.

Two semi-finals on the programme produced championship records, setting the stage for Spain's Rafael Munoz in the 50m butterfly and American Eric Shanteau in the 100m breaststroke to join the world record wave in today's finals.

Super swimsuits

The record-shattering exploits were widely predicted at the last world meeting to allow the current generation of high-tech supersuits.

FINA, world swimming's governing body has pledged to roll back suit technology starting in 2010 after claims the suits enhance performance artificially, but yesterday's results promised a frenzied farewell to the controversial attire.

Three world records fell in the first three events, starting with Sjostrom's 56.44sec in the women's 100m butterfly semis. That broke one of the oldest records on the women's books, the 56.61sec set by Inge de Bruijn of the Netherlands at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

Next up was Biedermann, whose 400m free victory in 3:40.07 broke an iconic mark, the 3:40.08 set by Australian legend Ian Thorpe in 2002.

Biedermann powered past Tunisian Oussama Mellouli to lift the crown, Mellouli finishing second and China's Olympic silver medallist Zhang Lin third.

Reigning world and Olympic champion Park Tae-hwan wasn't in the mix, having failed to qualify for the final.

World record number three went to unheralded Kukors, who only got into the race when one of the two US women who qualified at trials pulled out. She clocked 2:07.03, to better a mark held by Australian Stephanie Rice, who settled for the second-fastest semi-final time.

For more than 11,000 Italian fans, however, the high point was Pellegrini's 400m free triumph, with a time of 3:59.15 that made her the first woman to break the four-minute barrier.

Dogged Briton Joanne Jackson, who held the world record earlier this year, settled for silver ahead of compatriot and Olympic gold medallist Rebecca Adlington.

In the women's relay, the Dutch quartet of Inge Dekker, Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Frederike Heemskerk and Marleen Veldhuis rallied from fifth after the first leg to win in 3:31.72.

Germany settled for silver, despite the record-breaking exploit of Steffen, who led off in an individual record of 50.22sec, and Australia captured bronze.

Germany's time of 3:31.83 and Australia's 3:33.01 were both under the previous relay world record.