Michael Phelps eased his world championships heartache with a 100m butterfly win Saturday as 16-year-old Missy "Missile" Franklin exploded onto the scene with another two gold medals in Shanghai. Drug-row Brazilian Cesar Cielo earned his second sprint title and Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington broke Britain's gold medal duck in the women's 800m, as Franklin helped the United States win their first 4x100m medley in more than a decade.
Phelps, the world and Olympic champion and world record-holder, was third halfway through the 100m butterfly but he swept through the field to win in 50.71sec, ahead of Poland's Konrad Czerniak and America's Tyler McGill. With nemesis Ryan Lochte watching from the stands, Phelps extended his record number of world titles to 25, including three in Shanghai, alongside two silver medals and one bronze.
Phelps returned to China looking for a possible seven golds, to follow his eight from the 2008 Olympics, but he was beaten by Lochte in the 200m freestyle and again in the 200m individual medley, where his team-mate set a world record.
Phelps now faces the challenge of returning to peak condition for his swansong at next year's London Olympics, after acknowledging he has neglected training and spent too much time playing golf following the Beijing Games. The United States also enjoyed yet more success through teenager Franklin, who claimed her second individual title and then anchored the medley victory to make it five medals overall.
Franklin, one of the leading stars of Shanghai, was never behind in the 200m backstroke and she won it convincingly in 2min 5.10sec ahead of Australia's Belinda Hocking and Sharon van Rouwendaal of the Netherlands. In other races, Dutch swimmer Inge Dekker upset a field including the world record-holder and defending champion to win the women's 50m butterfly and claim her first individual world title. And in the women's 800m, Britain's Adlington timed her final burst to perfection as she overtook front-runner Lotte Friis in the closing stages to win it in 8min 17.51sec, with America's Kate Ziegler third.
World championships medals table Medals table for swimming events at the world championships after the seventh night of pool action on Saturday:
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Gold Silver Bronze Total
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United States 12 4 7 23
China 4 2 7 13
Brazil 3 0 0 3
Australia 2 7 2 11
Italy 2 3 0 5
France 2 2 5 9
Denmark 2 1 0 3
Netherlands 2 0 2 4
Britain 1 2 0 3
Russia 1 2 0 3
Hungary 1 0 2 3
Belarus 1 0 0 1
Norway 1 0 0 1
South Korea 1 0 0 1
Japan 0 4 1 5
Canada 0 2 1 3
Poland 0 1 0 1
Sweden 0 1 0 1
Germany 0 0 4 4
South Africa 0 0 2 2
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--- France awarded two gold medals for dead heat in men's 100m backstroke
--- Two golds (Denmark, Belarus) and no silver after dead heat in women's 100m freestyle.