Zimbabwe's greatest swimmer Coventry breaks record

HARARE, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe's greatest swimmer of all time, Kirsty Coventry, on Friday broke the U.S. Open record for women's 400 meters individual medley in the spectacular time of four minutes 34.25 seconds at the Texas Swim Center.

According to reports by The Chronicle on Tuesday, Coventry was under Katie Hoff's world record pace through 200 meters, but couldn't quite match the breaststroke leg.

The previous pool record of 4:38.58 was set by Janet Evans.

In the same gala Hayley McGregor of the United States broke the women's world record for 50 meters backstroke with 28.00 to crack China's Li yang's record of 28.09.

Coventry is in fine shape for the August Beijing Olympics and also for the world short course championships in Manchester, England, next month.