The Hindu : Sport / Olympic Games : Kitajima reigns in style; Pellegrini sets world record

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Kitajima reigns in style; Pellegrini sets world record

Phelps’s quest continues as five world records get dunked

BEIJING: Five world records fell on Monday at the Water Cube, with Michael Phelps winning his second gold of the Beijing Olympics.

Phelps and his teammates set a world mark in winning the 4x100 freestyle relay, barely beating France in 3 minutes, 8.24 seconds.

In the first leg of the race, Eamon Sullivan of Australia broke the individual 100 world record in 47.24, beating the previous mark of 47.50.

Emotional

“You could tell I was pretty excited,” said Phelps, who is trying to win eight golds at the Beijing Games. “I lost my voice and I was definitely pretty emotional out there.”

Kosuke Kitajima of Japan defended his 100m breaststroke Olympic title in a record time of 58.91 seconds, and Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe shaved two-tenths of a second off the 100m backstroke record to win her semifinal in 58.77 seconds.

In evening races, Italy’s Federica Pellegrini won her 200m freestyle heat in a world record 1:55.45, bettering the March 2007 mark of 1:55.52 set by Laure Manadou of France.

Phelps’s attempt at breaking Mark Spitz’s record of seven golds in a single Games appeared doomed when France took the lead of the relay at the 250-metre mark.

They were 4.03 seconds under world-record pace at 350 metres before Jason Lezak, the oldest American male swimmer at 32, rallied over the closing strokes. Nearly a body length behind Alain Bernard at the final turn, he overtook the Frenchman at the wall by a fingertip.

The U.S. team shattered the World record of 3:12.23 it set in Sunday’s preliminaries. Australia won bronze in 3:09.91.

Phelps, who swam the first leg, thrust both arms toward the roof after Lezak’s incredible finish.

“I was going nuts,” Phelps said. “As soon as (Lezak) came off that last wall, I started going crazy.”

Phelps also advanced to Tuesday’s 200 freestyle final where he will go for gold No. 3. He qualified fourth-fastest in his semifinal in 1:46.28, a day after he shattered the 400 individual medley World record to win his first gold.

Coventry’s new mark

Coventry broke the record of 58.97 set by Natalie Coughlin at last month’s U.S. trials. The two were the fastest going into Tuesday’s final.

In the men’s 100 breaststroke, Kitajima rallied from third after 50m to break the 59.13 World record set by Brendan Hansen of the United States two years ago. “It was perfect,” Kitajima said.

Libby Trickett captured her first Olympic gold in the women’s 100 butterfly in 56.73 seconds, just 0.12 off the world record, and Britain’s Rebecca Adlington overhauled Katie Hoff of the United States in the final metres to win the 400m freestyle in 4:03.22. — AP

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