Phelps cruises into 200m free semi-finals

Michael Phelps, riding the momentum of a relay victory, opened his individual World Championships campaign Monday with the second-fastest time in the 200m freestyle heats.

"I felt good coming off the relay," said Phelps, who helped the United States to an upset win in the 4x100m free on Sunday night. "It felt fairly controlled for a morning swim.

Phelps said he was satisfied to book his berth in the first of Monday night's semi-finals with a time of 1min 45.60sec.

Phelps is the world record-holder in the 200m free, establishing the mark of 1:42.96 at the Beijing Olympics as part of his eight-gold haul. Germany's Paul Biedermann, who stunningly broke Australian legend Ian Thorpe's world record in winning the 400m free on Sunday, said he didn't expect the 200m free to come down to a duel between himself and Phelps.

South Korean Park Tae-hwan, who finished runner up to Phelps in the 200 free in China, booked his semi-final spot with the eighth-fastest time of 1:46.53. Park will be looking for redemption in the 200 after failing to qualify for the final of the 400m free, the event in which he won Olympic gold.

Half a dozen world records fell on the first day of racing Sunday as the impact of the latest generation of high-tech swimsuits was felt.Britain's Emma Spofforth clocked 58.78 in the women's 100m backstroke heats, a championship record and just one-hundredth of a second outside the world record set by Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry in the semi-finals in Beijing.

Spain's Aschwin Wildeboer Faber posted a meet record 52.93 to top the qualifying times in the men's 100m backstroke, ahead of Japan's Ryosuke Irie (53.00). Malaysia's Liam Tancock, Japan's Junya Koga and American world record-holder Aaron Peirsol were tied for third-fastest on 53.08.

Peirsol, who reclaimed the world record at the US trials on July 8 - a week after Wildeboer Faber had broken it at the Mediterranean Games - predicted a world record will be needed to win Tuesday's final. America's Olymic silver medallist Rebecca Soni led the way into the women's 100m breaststroke semi-finals with a championship record of 1:05.66.

Denmark's Lotte Friis was fastest in the women's 1,500m free heats with a time of 15.58.23. The final of the non-Olympic event for women is on Tuesday.

ROME, AFP