Ian Crocker avenged his Athens Olympic defeat in the 100m butterfly with a world record-setting victory over fellow-American Michael Phelps on Saturday at the 11th World Swimming Championships. Crocker claimed his second straight 100m fly world title in 50.40sec, slicing 36-hundredths off his previous world mark of 50.76 he set in beating Phelps at the US Olympic trials last year.
But Phelps hardly offered his usual challenge, settling for silver in 51.65, half a second outside his own personal best.
"That was a horrible swim for me - 51.6 isn't very good," said Phelps, who was third at the turn and finished 1.25sec behind Crocker, with Ukrainian Andriy Serdinov third in 52.08.
Despite the fact that he had already won the 200m free and 200m medley titles here as well as two relay golds, Phelps - winner of a sensational six Olympic gold medals in Athens - indicated he wasn't happy with his overall form.
South African Roland Schoeman, in contrast, continued to display blistering form as he posted the second-fastest 50m freestyle time ever to capture that crown.
Schoeman, who had set two world records en route to the 50m butterfly title, won in 21.69sec, second only to the world record of 21.69 of now-retired Russian great Alex Popov.
Croatian Duje Draganja was second in 21.89 and Poland's Bartosz Kizierowski was third in 21.94.
Africa claimed another gold as Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry completed a backstroke double with her victory in the women's 200m.
Coventry, whose 200m back gold was one of a complete set of Olympic medals she earned in Athens, clocked 2:08.52 to add the title to the 100m crown she captured on Tuesday.
Two international newcomers made their marks, American Kate Ziegler winning an 800m freestyle in which Olympic champion Ai Shibata was relegated to third and Australian Danni Miatke winning the 50m butterfly.
Ziegler, who had already won the 1,500m free title here, won in a personal best time of 8:25.31 with Canadian Brittany Reimer thrilling the home crowd with a second-place finish in 8:27.59.
Shibata, who had hoped to become Japan's first woman swimming world champion, was third in 8:27.86.
Miatke, swimming in her first long course international meet, was equally thrilled to show she belonged among Australia's powerful women swimmers.
The 17-year-old clocked 26.11 to grab the 50m fly gold ahead of world record-holder Anna-Karin Kammerling and her fellow Swede Therese Alshammar.
Kammerling, who earned the last of her three European titles in the event in 2002, took the silver in 26.36, and Alshammar, the reigning European 50m free champion, was third in 26.39.
And, she said, it was just as exciting to be part of an Aussie women's team that have stacked up eight gold medals with one night left in the championships.
Australia's women punctuated the night with a victory in the 4x100m medley relay, Sophie Edington, Leisel Jones, Jess Schipper and Lisbeth Lenton clocking a championship record of 3:57.47.
The United States were second in 3:59.92, while Germany took bronze in 4:02.51.
COLLATED RESULTS
SWIMMING: Men's 50m freestyle final
1. Roland Schoeman (RSA) 21.69 - gold medal
2. Duje Draganja (CRO) 21.89 - silver medal
3. Bartosz Kizierowski (POL) 21.94 - bronze medal
4. Salim Iles (ALG) 22.15, 5. Andrey Kapralov (RUS) 22.16, 6. Nicholas Brunelli (USA) 22.25, 7. Frederick Bousquet (FRA) 22.44, 8. Eduard Lorente (ESP) 22.46
100m BUTTERFLY FINAL:
1. Ian Crocker (USA) 50.40 - gold medal
2. Michael Phelps (USA) 51.65 - silver medal
3. Andriy Serdinov (UKR) 52.08 - bronze medal
4. Igor Marchenko (RUS) 52.35, 5. Evgeny Korotyshkin (RUS) 52.87, 5. Mike Mintenko (CAN) 52.87, 7. Kaio Almeida (BRA) 53.13, 8. Ryo Takayasu (JPN) 53.28
50m BACKSTROKE SEMI-FINALS:
QUALIFIERS FOR FINAL: 1. Aristeidis Grogoriadis (GRE) 25.11, 2. Liam Tancock (GBR) 25.22, 3. Matt Welsh (AUS) 25.36, 4. Thomas Rupprath (GER) 25.52, 5. Aaron Peirsol (USA) 25.55, 6. Junichi Miyashita (JPN) 25.58, 7. Randall Bal (USA) 25.60, 8. Marco Di Carli (ITA) 25.69
WOMEN'S 50m BUTTERFLY FINAL:
1. Danni Miatke (AUS) 26.11 - gold medal
2. Anna-Karin Kammerling (SWE) 26.36 - silver medal
3. Therese Alshammar (SWE) 26.39 - bronze medal
4. Fabienne Nadarajah (AUT) 26.50, 5. Antje Buschschulte (GER) 26.55, 6. Natalie Coughlin (USA) 26.63, 7. Inge Dekker (NED) 26.93, 8. Elizabeth Coster (NZL) 27.23
200m BACKSTROKE FINAL:
1. Kirsty Coventry (ZIM) 2:08.52 - gold medal
2. Margaret Hoelzer (USA) 2:09.94 - silver medal
3. Reiko Nakamura (JPN) 2:10.41 - bronze medal
4. Hanae Ito (JPN) 2:10.98, 5. Alessia Filippi (ITA) 2:11.44, 6. Stanislava Komarova (RUS) 2:12.03, 7. Louise Ornstedt (DEN) 2:12.93, 8. Zhao Jing (CHN) 2:13.10
800m FREESTYLE FINAL:
1. Kate Ziegler (USA) 8:25.31 - gold medal
2. Brittany Reimer (CAN) 8:27.59 - silver medal
3. Ai Shibata (JPN) 8:27.86 - bronze medal
4. Flavia Rigamonti (SUI) 8:28.74, 5. Camelia Potec (ROM) 8:34.40, 6. Erika Villaecija (ESP) 8:36.34, 7. Rebecca Cooke (GBR) 8:37.98, 8. Jana Henke (GER) 8:38.23
4x100m MEDLEY RELAY FINAL:
1. Australia (Sophie Edington, Leisel Jones, Jessica Schipper, Lisbeth Lenton) 3:57.47 - gold medal
2. United States (Natalie Coughlin, Jessica Hardy, Rachel Komisarz, Amanda Weir) 3:59.92 - silver medal
3. Germany (Antje Buschschulte, Sarah Poewe, Annika Melhorn, Daniela Gotz) 4:02.51 - bronze medal
4. China 4:02.80, 5. Italy 4:04.90, 6. Poland 4:05.08, 7. Japan 4:06.85, Russia DQ
50m BREASTSTROKE SEMI-FINALS:
QUALIFIERS FOR FINAL: 1. Jade Edmistone (AUS) 30.61, 2. Jessica Hardy (USA) 31.10, 3. Brooke Hanson (AUS) 31.15, 4. Tara Kirk (USA) 31.26, 5. Kate Haywood (GBR) 31.41, 6. Luo Xuejuan (CHN) 31.45, 7. Zoe Baker (NZL) 31.58, 8. Janne Schaefer (GER) 31.76
50m freestyle semi-finals
Qualifiers for final: 1. Marleen Veldhuis (NED) 24.92, 2. Therese Alshammar (SWE) 24.99, 3. Lisbeth Lenton (AUS) 25.05, 4. Alice Mills (AUS) 25.10, 4. Zhu Yingwen (CHN) 25.10, 6. Kara Lynn Joyce (USA) 25.14, 6. Svitlana Khakhlova (BLR) 25.14, 8. Jana Kolukanova (EST) 25.28
WATER POLO: Men - Final
Serbia-Montenegro 8 Hungary 7
Bronze medal match
Croatia 10 Greece 11
Match for fifth place
Romania 7 Spain 8
Match for seventh place
Russia 7 Italy 6
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MEDALS TABLE
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Gold Silver Bronze Total
United States 15 13 6 34
Australia 10 7 3 20
China 5 5 6 16
Russia 5 2 2 9
Canada 3 4 3 10
France 3 1 1 5
Germany 2 7 4 13
South Africa 2 1 2 4
Zimbabwe 2 1 0 3
Netherlands 2 0 1 3
Poland 2 0 2 4
Italy 1 3 3 7
Hungary 1 2 1 4
Spain 1 1 3 5
Serbia-
Montenegro 1 0 0 1
Japan 0 4 6 10
Sweden 0 1 2 3
Austria 0 1 1 2
Croatia 0 1 0 1
Cuba 0 1 0 1
Switzerland 0 1 0 1
Bulgaria 0 0 2 2
Britain 0 0 2 2
Ukraine 0 0 3 3
Greece 0 0 1 1
Tunisia 0 0 1 1
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