Sydney: Australian Stephanie Rice broke the 200 metre individual medley world record with a new time of two minutes 8.92 seconds at the national Olympic trials here today.

Rice knocked 0.80 seconds off the previous world record held by China's Yan Yan Wu, set in Shanghai in 1997. It was Rice's second world record at the national trials, having broken the the 400m individual medley mark on the opening night last Saturday.

Rice was 1.4 seconds under world record pace at the halfway mark and was stunned to lower her previous best time at last year's world championships by 2.5 seconds.

"I'm swimming really, really well and have had a good preparation," Rice said. "I was coming into tonight not thinking about the record and just about myself. That is a huge, huge personal best."

Rice smashed the 400m medley world record on Saturday, shaving 1.43 seconds off American Katie Hoff s previous record in a new time of 4:31.46.

It was the fourth world record set halfway through the Australian trials for the Beijing Olympics.
Source : PTI