Kirsty Coventry (ZIM) shattered the world short-course record in the 200m backstroke in 2:00.91 ahead of Britain's Elizabeth Simmonds, also under the old WR in 2:02.60, with Margaret Hoelzer (USA) third in 2:03.85.

The session saw standards ripped apart across the board, mostly by swimmers in the LZR, it goes almost without saying now.

Here are Coventry's amazing splits, Simmond's fabulous last 50m (it was actually an even more fabulous turn and last length) and those of the silver and bronze medallists:

Coventry: 28.48; 58.69; 1:29.71; 2:00.91 (28.48, 30.21, 31.02, 31.20)
Simmonds: 29.10; 1:00.38; 1;31.89; 2:02.60 (29.10, 31.28, 31.51, 30.71)
Hoelzer: 29.55; 1:00.99; 1:32.00; 2:03.84 ( 29.55, 31.44, 31.01, 31.85)

And the new top 5:

2:00.91 Coventry ZIM 2008 WR
2:02.60 Simmonds GBR 2008 Euro Rec, Comm Rec
2:03.24 Nakamura JPN 2008
2:03.62 Coughlin AUS 2002
2:04.08 Baron FRA 2007

Coventry, who broke the 400m medley world mark on Wednesday, pounded her way to victory from the start. The old mark had barely had time to dry: in 2:03.24 Reiko Nakamura (JPN) had enjoyed a small spell in the spotlight since her effort in Tokyo on February 23.

The delightful Coventry, coached by Kim Brackin in Austin, Texas, has won three golds in three days. Asked about how fresh she looked after the race she said: 'I don't feel it, my legs are really sore.' She added: 'I'm having a great meet. My sister and her husband and some family are in the crowd. This is the first time they have seen me at such a big meet. It's pretty cool.' The time had not been unexpected. 'We'd kind of talked about it, and Kim had said 'do you think a '59 (1:59) could be, may be possible?'

She wasn't that far shy of an amazing barrier: a sub-2-minute backstroke among women. Coventry got back in the pool later and finished third in the 100m medley, which was won by Shayne Reese of Australia.

The other world records:

Women:
50m Butterfly - Felicity Galvez (AUS), 25.32
4x100m Medley - USA - 3:51.36
Men:
50m Freestyle - Duje Draganja (CRO), 20.81
200m Medley - Ryan Lochte (USA) 1:51.56