Marleen Veldhuis, of the Netherlands, sizzled on her way to a world record of 23.25 in the 50m freestyle here at Manchester 2008. Coached by Jacco Verhaeren in Eindhoven, Veldhuis 'It's so nice to swim here. It makes it feel so easy.' Her improvement came down to her work with Verhaeren, she said. 'We work really well together ... always improving technique.' A sub 23sec possible? 'That would be nice,' she said through laughter.

The world record had stood to Veldhuis at 23.58 since November last year. The silver medal went to her teammate Hinkelien Schreuder, coached by former medley champion Marcel Wouda with Verhaeren in Eindhoven, with bronze going to Liverpool's Francesca Halsall, 18 and a day, who gave the home crowd a thrill with a 24.11 blast that fell just 0.05sec shy of Alsion Sheppard's British record of 2003.

Straight after the sprint final, Moss Burmester, of New Zealand, claimed the 200m butterfly crown in a Commonwealth record and second-fastest time ever of 1:51.05, 0.32sec outside the world record held by Frank Esposito (FRA) since December 2002. The silver went to Nikolai Skvortsov (RUS) in 1:51.83. The Arena-clad swimmer peered up at the scoreboard and shook his head in much the same way as all those beaten by LZR racers this week have done. They feel disadvantaged and they don't mind telling you. Bronze went to Pawel Korzeniowski (POL) in 1:52.25.

The 50m breaststroke went to Oleg Lisogor (UKR) in 26.46, ahead of Mark Gangloff (USA), on 26.54, with bronze going to Cameron Van Der Burgh (RSA), on 26.67.

Burmester's championship record was followed by one for Yuri Prilukov (RUS), who powered to the 1,500m freestyle title in 14:22.98. In his wake came David Davies (GBR) on 14:36.30, and world champion Mateusz Sawrymovicz (POL), on 14;43.37.

If Prilukov looked rested and ready, the men in his wake are working through to a bigger moment.