Germany's Britta Steffen and the Netherlands relay team have kept up the record breaking at the world championships, setting the fifth and sixth marks on the opening night of swimming.
Steffen broke the record for the 100-meter freestyle with an opening leg of 52.22 seconds in the 400 free relay, beating her own mark of 52.56 set last month. In relays, the leadoff swimmer can also be credited with an individual record.
But Steffen's great start wasn't enough. The Dutch women, with Magdalena Veldhuis on the anchor leg, won in 3 minutes, 31.72 seconds, beating their own mark of 3:33.62 from 2008. The next two teams, Germany (3:31.83) and Australia (3:33.01), also eclipsed the old record.
Italy's Federica Pelligrini has sent the home crowd into a frenzy at the world championships, setting the fourth world record on the opening night of swimming.
Germany's Paul Biedermann, Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom and Ariana Kukors of the U.S. have also set records – the latter two in semifinal heats – giving credence to suggestions that every mark would be under attack at the Foro Italico, hosting the final major meet with high-tech bodysuits. The suits are banned starting in 2010.
Pelligrini became the first woman to break 4 minutes in the 400-meter freestyle. She touched in 3 minutes, 59.15 seconds, beating her own record of 4:00.41 set just a month ago.
She patted her heart and waved to the near-sellout crowd as she walked off the deck.
"I knew I was going to finish first because I didn't see anyone else around me," she said. "But I didn't know about the world record until I stopped and turned around."
Ariana Kukors, hadn't even qualified for the 200 individual medley at the U.S. trials but got in when a teammate scratched, now holds the fastest time ever in that event.
The record book was so worthless that two marks fell in a single race. Germany's Britta Steffen was credited with a world record in the 100 free for her opening leg of the 400 free relay, but the Netherlands came back to win the race – with a record-breaking time, of course. In fact, the top three teams, including runner-up Germany and third-place Australia, all broke the previous record.
Michael Phelps and the Americans got the best of France again in the relay. And just like Beijing, the world's greatest swimmer owed a big hand to his teammates yesterday.
Phelps led off the 400-meter freestyle relay, his first event of the world swimming championships, but he was only third when he turned it over to Ryan Lochte.
Lochte hung tough against France's hulking Alain Bernard while surprising Russia also surged into contention. Matt Grevers did his part on the third leg, and Nathan Adrian pulled it out for the U.S. with a blistering down and back, overtaking the Russians and holding off the heavily favored French to win in 3 minutes, 9.21 seconds.
Phelps pumped his fists on the pool deck, then leaned over to congratulate Adrian – whose closing act was reminiscent of Jason Lezak's amazing final leg at the Olympics, when he somehow chased down Bernard to keep Phelps on course to win a record eight golds.
"When we come into a meet we have a goal to win all three relays, and I think this is a perfect way to end day one," Phelps said. "Relays are raced as a team, and I think all four guys swam a great race."