Swimming round-up: Nathan Adrianwon the 100 metres freestyle final at the London Olympics on Wednesday night to become the first American to win gold in the blue riband sprint for nearly a quarter of a century.
In a desperate finish, Adrian got his fingers on the wall 0.01 seconds, the smallest margin in Olympic swimming, ahead of Australian world champion James Magnussen.
Nathan stopped the clock at 47.52 seconds with Magnussen second in 47.53. Canada’s Brent Hayden was third in 47.80.
Brazil's Cesar Cielo, the defending champion and reigning world record holder, was sixth in the race to decide the fastest man on water.
While the United States has been the dominant power in Olympic swimming, the last American man to win the 100 freestyle gold was Matt Biondi at Seoul in 1988.
Hungary's
Daniel Gyurta
broke the world record to win the 200 metres breaststroke gold, denying the host-nation Britain their first male swimming champion in almost a quarter of a century.
Propelled by a deafening roar inside London's Aquatic Centre, Gyurta held on to beat Michael Jamieson in a desperate finish to win in a time of two minutes 07.28 seconds.
Gyurta shaved 0.03 off the previous world record set by Australia's Christian Sprenger at the 2009 world championships in Rome when the now-banned polyurethane bodysuits were still allowed.
Scottish-born Jamieson was second in 2:07.43 after almost drawing level with Gyurta approaching the wall while Japan's Ryo Tateishi, swimming in the outside lane, was third in 2:08.29.
His countryman Kosuke Kitajima, the two-time defending champion, finished fourth, dashing his hopes of becoming the first male swimmer to win the same event at three successive Olympics.
China's
Jiao Liuyang
stormed home on the last lap to win the women’s 200 metres butterfly gold.
Jiao was second when she turned for home but surged clear of her rivals to win in a time of two minutes 04.06 seconds and add the Olympic gold to the world title she won last year.
Spain's Mireia Belmonte Garcia held on to take the silver after leading with one lap to go while Natsumi Hoshi of Japan was third.
Liu Zige, who beat her countrywoman Jiao for gold in Beijing four years ago, finished eighth.
Rebecca Soni
of the United States broke the women's 200 metres breaststroke in the semi-finals of the event.
Soni clocked two minutes, 20.00 seconds to break the 2:20.12 set by Canada’s Annamay Pierse at the world championships in Rome in 2009.