Aussie teenager Rice breaks her 2nd world record

BEIJING, March 26 -- Australian teenager Stephanie Rice broke her second world record in three days at the national Olympic trials in Sydney on Tuesday.

The 19-year-old added the 200 meters individual medley record to the 400 mark she claimed on Saturday when she stopped the clock at two minutes 08.92 seconds.

Her time slashed 0.80 off the previous record of 2:09.72, set by China's Wu Yanyan in beijing2008.cn/spectators/shanghai/' target=_blank>Shanghai in 1997, which was the second oldest long course (50-metre pool) world record still standing.

"I actually didn't know who held the world record," Rice said. "I knew it was someone from China but I didn't know who it was, because obviously it happened so long ago."

Rice, who snatched the 400 record from American Katie Hoff on the weekend, became the first woman since East German Petra Schneider in 1980 to hold both individual medal records at the same time.

The Queenslander is the newest member of a powerful Australian swim team expected to challenge for gold medals in Beijing.

Rice burst on to the international scene at the 2006 Commonwealth Games when she won the 200-400 medley double as a 17-year-old.

She finished third in both events at last year's world championships but it was her feats over the past three days that have suddenly made her the favorite to win Olympic gold.

"I really had no idea I was going to go that fast," Rice said.

"This is absolutely phenomenal for me ... but hopefully it's going to get even better."

Rice's boyfriend Eamon Sullivan almost made it a lover's double yesterday when he swam the second fastest 100 freestyle on record, just 0.05 outside Alain Bernard's world mark set at the European championships in Eindhoven at the weekend.