Melbourne - Australian Lisbeth Lenton and South African Ryk Neethling were the leading swimmers of the three-day Telstra World Cup swim meet at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.

Lenton ripped off five titles -- the three freestyle events and both butterfly distances -- and Neethling also gathered five events -- the freestyle clean sweep and the 100m Individual Medley and 50m Butterfly.

The South African shark swam the fastest of his life tonight as she shaved a tenth of a second off his personal best in the 50m Freestyle splash.

Riding the crest of a wave as a class field straddled the pool, Neethling grabbed his fifth gold medal of the meet, just a short period after missing out on his first medal in the 100m Butterfly.

He had to fend off Jason Lezak, who normally fills a top position here in Melbourne but will go home with two runner-up positions to Neethling in the freestyle sprints.

"Jason is so explosive and strong and quick and so is Brett (Hawke, AUS)," Neethling said.

His presence in the men's competition spiced up the action in a meet without Aussie superstars Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett.

Speaking of the efforts of the South African 100m relay team this year, he said that they were trying to emulate how it is done in Australia and that "rugby and cricket are not doing so well (in South Africa)" so swimming had to do something about the country's sporting fortunes. His best swim was the 1017-point 100m Individual Medley victory, the highest scoring of all men's events.

The sharpest swim of the final night went to China's Chang Gao, who spoiled the party of Australian youngster Tayliah Zimmer, who was gunning for her third backstroke victory.

Gao went a fast 27.22 in the 50m Backstroke, within four tenths of a second of her countrywoman's world record and just three hundredths off her fastest time, which is the fourth best in history. Tonight's swim was the sixth fastest all time.

The effort gained 1002 points in the FINA Points System but it was still a long way from the meet's highest achiever, Leisel Jones (AUS), who went below her world record effort last year for 1025 points in the 100m Breaststroke. She then backed that up with a 1027-point effort in the 200m Breaststroke.

Jones gained a silver in the 50m Breaststroke, denied a triple by world record holder Jade Edmiston (AUS). Fifth in the race was Alice Mills (AUS), who would have left the stadium happy with her tally of one gold and three silvers from the meet.

Race Reports:

Men

100m Butterfly
The Neethling run came to an end when he finished outside the medals for the first time, in fourth place. He looked good early but it was the big New Zealander, Corney Swanepoel, who had the race under control for much of the distance until five-time world champion James Hickman (GBR) did what he does best, paced himself to perfection, took the lead on the last lap and hit the wall first on his farewell tour to world swimming. He finished in 51.56, overhauling Swanepoel and then just holding out a fast-finishing Russian, Nikolay Skvortsov, who timed at 51.64, three hundredths of a second ahead of the Kiwi. Neethling's time was 51.84. Hickman thanked the crowd for its tremendous support.

200m Breaststroke
Brenton Rickard (AUS) made it a clean sweep of the breaststroke events with his third gold. However, it wasn't easy as Jim Piper (AUS), silver medallist in the 100m event and world champion in 2001, led all the way, sometimes by more than half a body length. But Rickard waited his time and pounced in the final few strokes to claim the gold in 2:07.11, compared to Piper's 2:07.25. Mark Riley (AUS), collected his third podium finish with a 2:11.71 swim for a silver and two bronzes.

50m Freestyle
In the splash for cash it was that man Ryk Neethling again for victory No 5 from six events. The South African was among the bunch at the first wall but came out clear midway through the second lap to finish in 21.68, half a second outside the world record and the fifth fastest time this season. Jason Lezak (USA) had to be content with second in 21.72 and Nick Brunelli (USA) made it a fully non-Australian podium finish in 21.90. Australia's best was veteran sprinter Brett Hawke, who was fourth in 22.02. It was Lezak's second silver and Brunelli's fourth top-three finish for two silvers and two bronzes.

400m Individual Medley
New Zealander Dean Kent maintained the Kiwi onslaught with victory in the longest of the medley races for his second gold, finishing in 4:10.03. He led all the way and had fellow Australian Adam Lucas on his tail for much of the race. Robert Margalis (USA) held third until the start of the freestyle leg. Then Travis Nederpelt, who, like Lucas, comes from Perth in Western Australia, started his assault, drawing in Margalis on the penultimate lap and then overtaking Lucas 10m into the final lap for 4:13.18. Lucas settled for 4:13.73. It was Nederpelt's second silver medal after gaining the first in the 400m Freestyle. Lucas earlier won silver in the 200m IM.

100m Backstroke
Matt Welsh (AUS), who swims out of Melbourne, kept his army of local supporters happy with a solid victory to go with the 50m Backstroke crown. He missed out on two other finals, watching as one of the reserves, but wasn't to be denied on this occasion. He had the edge after 50m but only by 0.05 over Randall Bal (USA). Welsh finished in 51.38 and Bal 51.75. Triple Olympic champion Aaron Peirsol was always out of the running but claimed bronze in 52.61. Briton James Hickman showed his versatility with fourth place in 53.39. Bal has to be content with three silver medals in the backstroke events.

1500m Freestyle
Russian Yuri Prilukov repeated what he did in Durban in the first leg of the World Cup, finishing in 14:38.67. Korean Tae Hwan Park gained his country's first medal and augurs well for the third leg in Daejeon, Korea later in the week. He finished in 14:48.46 and Travis Nederpelt (AUS)