Therese Alshammar has travelled far and wide in search of fun, funding and competition and, finally, in her 30th year on the planet, the Swede conquered a world long-course record.

That her 25.46sec over 50m butterfly came in a non-Olympic event at the Barcelona leg of the Mare Nostrum Tour will not have dented Alshammar's joy. And that came at the expense of her Sweden teammate Anna-Karin Kammerling, whose 25.57sec had lasted since the European championships in Berlin, 2002.

Alshammar's lifetime best before Barcelona was the 25.91sec in which she became world champion in Melbourne in March. Second to her in Barcelona was the Dutchwoman who took bronze behind her at worlds, Inge dekker, on 26.01sec, also faster, by 0.10sec, than she was in Melbourne. Her teammate Marleen Veldhuis took bronze in 26.31.

On a high, Alshammar later clocked a dominant 24.61sec to win the 50m (Olympic-event) freestyle in a time 0.01sec faster than her Melbourne silver-medal winning effort, though still a touch shy of absent Aussie Libby Lenton at worlds, on 24.53.

The task of racing Alshammar in Barcelona was left to other Dolphins, Sophie Edington taking silver in 25.05, with Alice Mills third on 25.21, ahead of Veldhuis, world bronze medallist, on 25.22, and Olympic 100m champion Jodie Henry, on 25.27.

Another Swede, Stefan Nystrand, world bronze medallist, laid down the gauntlet for the 100m tomorrow in taking the 50m free in 22.18, ahead of in-form Frenchman Alain Bernard, on 22.29, and Aussie Eamon Sullivan, on 22.40.

Beyond the Swedes, Australia dominated events, Grant Hackett hammering home another reminder that he is far from being washed up after limping through the world championships back in March. In a meet record of 3:47.89, he kept American Peter Vanderkaay at bay by 0.04sec, third place going to Russian Yury Prilukov in 3:50.03.

Stephanie Rice, of Australia, just kept at bay Britain's Hannah Miley over 200m medley, the result 2:13.71 to 2:14.10, the latter a British record for the Scot. Aussie Lara Carroll took third in 2:17.14. It is the second time in four days that Miley has set her national record and is now almost two seconds up on her best time prior this tour.

The equivalent men's event went to Brazil's Thiago Pereira in yet another meet record, of 1:59.47, silver to Australia's Leith Brodie in 2:02.19, with Canadian Tobias Oriwol third on 2:04.56.

Competition over 200m butterfly is getting tighter - as you might expect given that Mr Phelps is on 1:52. Nikolay Skvortsov, of Russian, led six men under 2 minutes in Barcelona, his 1:57.50, a touch ahead of Japan's Ryuichi Shibata, on 1:57.83, and American Davis Tarwater, on 1:57.98, with Brazil's Kaio Almeida close on 1:58.30, Takeshi Matsuda, of Japan, on 1:58.98 and Ioan Gherghel of Romania on 1:59.52.

The women's race went comfortably in a meet record of 2:08.05 to Australian Felicity Galvez, ahead of Spain's Mireia Belmonte Garcia, on 2:12.82, and Sweden's Petra Granlund, on 2:13.29.

European champion Arkady Vyatchanin, of Russia, clocked a 1:59.32 200m backstroke that kept at bay Romanian Razvan Florea, on 1:59.48, and Japan's Takashi Nakano, on 2:00.25, his teammate Hanae Ito taking the women's final in 2:11.25, to the 2:12.01 of Aussie Frances Adcock, with another Japanese, Reiko Nakamura, third in 2:13.36.

Japan also celebrated victory over 200m breaststroke, courtesy of Olympic champion Kosuke Kitajima, lonely out front on 2:12.82. Sally Foster took the women's race for Australia, in 2:28.73, a finger ahead of China's Ye Sun, on 2:28.92, with American Tara Kirk third on 2:29.30.

Bronte Barratt was the last Aussie winner, in 1:59.13 over a 200m freestyle final that must have felt like a domestic outing: Linda Mackenzie, 1:59.89, Lara Davenport, 2:00.46, and Angie Bainbridge, 2:01.48, followed on.

Earlier, Andrew Lauterstein was another winning Dolphin, taking the men's 50m 'fly in another meet record, of 23.81. Edington was back after her freestyle sprint effort to win the 50m backstroke in a meet record of 28.60. Newcomer to the international scene Ashley Delaney, of Australia, clocked a 25.69 win over 50m backstroke. The 50m breaststrokes went to Kirk on 31.09, a victory over world record holder Jade Edmistone, of Australia, on 31.50, and Ukraine's Valeri Dymo, on 28.30.