Thorpe, Klochkova set pool ablaze with records

Sydney: Australia's swimming sensation Ian Thorpe broke the 400 metres freestyle swimming world record when he won the Olympic gold medal on Saturday.

Thorpe clocked three minutes 40.59 seconds to beat his own mark of 3:41.33 set in the same pool in Sydney in May this year.

Earlier, Yana Klochkova claimed the first world record and first gold medal in the Sydney Olympic swimming pool with a runaway victory in the women's 400 metres individual medley final.

The 18-year-old Ukrainian seized the lead on the opening butterfly leg and held it throughout, stretching away to win in four minutes 33.59 seconds, beating the 4:34.79 world mark set by China's Chen Yan in Shanghai on October 13, 1997.

Japan's Yasuko Tajima, bronze medallist behind Chen and Klochkova at the 1998 world championships, took the silver in 4:35.96 and Romanian veteran Beatrice Caslaru the bronze in 4:37.18.



(c) Reuters Limited.