Five world records fall in short-course swimming worlds

LONDON, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Five more world records were set at the short-course swimming world championships in Manchester, England on Friday.

Duje Draganja of Croatia clocked 20.81 seconds, shaving 0.12 off Stefan Nystrand's record in the men's 50 freestyle.

Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe set a best time 2:00.91 in the women's 200-meter backstroke, 2.33 seconds better than Japanese Reiko Nakamura's old world record set in February.

Ryan Lochte of the United States set another world record by taking the men's 200 individual medley in a time of 1:51.56, nearly a second and a half faster than Laszlo Cseh's old mark of 1:52.99 set in December.

It was Lochte's second world record of the week and third gold. He led off the U.S. relay squad that set a world mark in the 400 free relay on Wednesday and defended his title in the 400 IM on Thursday.

Felicity Galvez of Australia established the world record in the women's 50 butterfly with a time of 25.32, improving on Anna Kammerling's old mark from 2005 by the slimmest of margins - 0.01.

The U.S. team of Margaret Hoelzer, Jessica Hardy, Rachel Komisarz and Kara Denby clinched the women's 400 medley relay title with a record time of in 3:51.36, improving on Australia's 3:51.84 from two years ago.

Through three days, nine world records have been broken. There have also been 19 long-course world marks set in the past two months since the controversial Speedo LZR Racer swimsuit was introduced.