Swimming World Championships - Day 3

Liam Tancock won Britains first medal in a session where four world records were broken at the FINA World Championships in Melbourne.

Michael Phelps (USA) smashed the World Record in the Men's 200m Freestyle Final and by improving his own personal best by over a second with his time of one minute 43.86 seconds. Former Olympic champion Pieter Van den Hoogenband (Netherlands) was second with Tae Hwan Park (South Korea) claiming Bronze.

Natalie Coughlin broke her own world record in the Women's 100m Backstroke Final. Coughlin stopped the clock at 59.44 seconds, 0.14 seconds under the mark she set in 2002. It had been six years since she previously won a world 100m title in Fukuoka. Frenchwoman Laure Manaudou and Japan's Reiko Nakamura took the silver and bronze respectively.

American Brendan Hansen qualified fastest from the Men's 50m Breaststroke Semi-Final ahead of world record holder Oleg Lisogor of the Ukraine and Russia's Alessandro Terrin. British former World Champion James Gibson was unable to progress from the semi-finals when he finished 11th overall in 28.21.

American Kate Ziegler won the Women's 1500m Freestyle Final in a championship record time of 15 minutes 53.05. Swiss Flavia Rigamonti grabbed her country's first medal of the championships with a silver and Japan's Ai Shibata took bronze.

Liam Tancock gave absolutely everything in the Men's 100m Backstroke Final. He went off fast and touched the wall ahead of the field and under World Record pace at the 50m point. In the second half of the race, Olympic Champion Aaron Peirsol and Ryan Lochte, both from the USA, closed Tancock down to take gold and silver respectively. Peirsol went under 53 seconds for the first time in history to set a new World Record of 52.98, Lochte took silver on the touch in 53.50 with Tancock returning in 53.61.

The fourth world record came in the Women's 200m Freestyle Semi-Final of the women's 200m, where Italian Federica Pellegrini shaved 0.17 off the record. German Annika Lurz was second fastest into Wednesday's final. Caitlin McClatchey produced a strong swim to progress seventh fastest in 1:57.86, but team mate Mel Marshall's time of 1:59.14 saw her finish 11th overall.

Michael Phelps qualified fastest in the Men's 200m Butterfly Semi-Final, an event he also holds the world record in. His main rivals will be three Asian swimmers, China's Peng Wu and Yin Chen and Japan's Ryuichi Shibata.

Leisel Jones, the Australian hero was swimming for gold in the Women's 100m Breaststroke Final. Jones won Australia's third gold of the championships in 1:05.72. Tara Kirk of the USA took the silver in 1:06.34 while Anna Khlistunova of the Ukraine claimed the bronze in 1:07.27. Britains Kirsty Balfour was fifth in 1:08.05 and Kate Haywood was seventh in 1:08.55.