Lithuanian teenager Ruta Meilutyte lit up the second day of action at the world swimming championships with the first world record of the week as Brazil, Australia, Hungary and Sweden all struck gold at Barce-lona’s Palau Sant Jordi yesterday.
Following up on her Olympic title in London last year, the 16-year-old Meilutyte scorched to a time of one minute 04.35 seconds in the semi-finals of the 100 metres breaststroke, shaving a tenth off the previous record of 1:04.45 set by American Jessica Hardy in 2009.
Cesar Cielo of Brazil claimed a second consecutive 50 metres butterfly title, Australia’s Christian Sprenger took gold in the 100 metres breaststroke and there were triumphs for Katinka Hosszu of Hungary in the 200 metres individual medley and Swedish teenager Sarah Sjostrom in the 100 metres butterfly.
Hosszu’s race produced the biggest surprise of the day when Olympic champion Ye Shiwen, of China, failed to defend her title from the 2011 championships in Shan-ghai and finished outside the medals in fourth.
Meilutyte had already gone close to the world record in her heat yesterday morning with a time of 1:04.52.
She then became the first Lithuanian woman to break a swimming world record since the country gained its independence from the Soviet Union more than two decades ago.
Improving on Hardy’s time had been “one of her dreams” and was more important than winning today’s final but a gold would nonetheless be the “cherry on the cake”, Meilutyte told reporters.
Australia came into the championships hoping to put a woeful performance at the London Olympics behind them and Sprenger gave them just the tonic they were seeking when he came from behind to beat Olympic champion Cameron Van Der Burgh of South Africa.
Van Der Burgh led at the turn but Sprenger powered through to touch in a time of 58.79 seconds, with the South African just behind in 58.97. Felipe Lima of Brazil took bronze with 59.65.
“I remember getting to that first wall and thinking, man I’m travelling really fast and it’s not even hurting at all, so I knew I was on track,” Sprenger told reporters.
“I could see Cameron in the corner of my eye and I knew he had gone out fast, but I have a stronger back end so it was my turn to come back,” added the 27-year-old, second behind Van Der Burgh in London.
Cielo triumphs
Victory for Brazilian Cielo, a gold medallist in Shanghai, made him only the second man to win the 50 metres butterfly twice after South African swimmer Roland Schoeman.
Cielo touched in 23.01 seconds. American Eugene Godsoe took silver in 23.05 and Fred Bousquet of France was third in 23.11.
Sjostrom, who won the 100 metres butterfly at the 2009 championships in Rome, reclaimed the title after a fourth-place finish in Shanghai.
The 19-year-old touched in a time of 56.53 seconds, while Australia’s Alicia Coutts repeated her silver from 2011 with 56.97. Olympic champion Dana Vollmer of the US was third in 57.24.
Coutts went on to claim another silver in the 200 metres medley which may help make up for the disappointment of surrendering the lead to the United States on the final leg of Sunday’s 4x100 freestyle relay.
Hungary’s Hosszu led on all four legs and touched in a time of two minutes and 07.92 seconds.
Coutts finished in 2:09.39, repeat-ing her second place from 2011, and Spain’s Mireia Belmonte Garcia held off Ye and delighted the home sup-port with bronze in 2:09.45 before dedicating her medal to the victims of last week’s train crash in Galicia.