Swimming update:Ireland's Tennessee-based swimmer Ryan Harrison had a great morning in the pool by setting a new personal and Irish record in today's 200metres freestyle at the World Swimming Championships in Rome.
Harrison swam in a time of 1:47:94 to shave over half a second off his previous Irish record that he set at the World University Games in Belgrade. The 20-year-old from Derry made a great start today and was never passed.
In the same race Larne’s Conor Leaney set a new personal best (1:50.98) to lower his own Irish junior record.
There were strong swims from Grainne and Nuala Murphy in the women’s 1500m freestyle. Grainne, 16, set a new Irish junior and senior record of 16:28.47 to finish 15th overall. Nuala, 20, also set a personal best time of 16:37.97.
Karl Burdis set a new Irish record in the men's 100m backstroke (54.74). In the same heat Dubliner Donal O'Neill, not long back from retirement, clocked 56.15.
“We've had really great swims on our second day, in particular outstanding performances came from Ryan Harrison, Karl Burdis, Conor Leaney, Grainne Murphy and Nuala Murphy,” said Peter Banks, Swim Ireland's High Performance Director.
“Great work done by the team so far and we hope this momentum continues as we progress through the week.”
Nine of the 13 Irish swimmers were in action today with Aisling Cooney (1.02.55) and Melanie Nocher (1.02.76) in the 100m backstroke and Fiona Doyle (1.10.93) in the 100m breaststroke.
Andrew Bree and Barry Murphy will go in the 50m breaststroke tomorrow, while Niamh O'Sullivan and Clare Dawson go in the 200m freestyle.
Swedish 15-year-old Sarah Sjostrom, meanwhile, broke the world record for the second time in two days to snatch gold in the 100 metres butterfly at an increasingly bizarre world swimming championships.
New all-polyurethane swimsuits, which are due to banned from January because they are performance enhancing, have prompted a deluge of world records and left swimming's credibility hanging by a thread.
Sjostrom finished 27th at last year's Beijing Olympics but blasted through the Foro Italico's open air pool in an astonishing 56.06 seconds to take the title having swum a 56.44 in Sunday's semi-finals.
"I don't know what is happening right now. It's unbelievable," she told reporters. "This is my best year but I have many years in front of me. I can do better."
Five records fell on Monday after six crumbled like Roman ruins on Sunday. Ariana Kukors, who broke the women's 200 individual medley record in Sunday's semi-final, bettered the mark again to take gold in Monday's final in a mind-boggling time of 2:06.15.
The American edged out Olympic champion Stephanie Rice despite not even qualifying for last year's Beijing Games.
"It's been a whirlwind the last couple of days," she said.
Brenton Rickard of Australia bagged the first world record of the session in the men's 100 breaststroke final, sending statisticians scurrying after chalking up a 58.58.
The world records being set could stand for years to come with governing body Fina poised to confirm a return to all-textile suits and trunks for men in 2010.