Malchow lowers record in 200m butterfly heats

Sydney: American Tom Malchow broke the Olympic men's 200 metres butterfly record on Monday to lead heat qualifiers into the semifinals.

Malchow, the 1996 Olympic silver medallist and 1998 world bronze medallist, clocked one minute 56.25 seconds to dip 0.01 seconds below the Olympic mark set by fellow American Melvin Stewart at the 1992 Barcelona Games.

Malchow set a world record of 1:55.18 in June. World champion Denys Sylantyev of Ukraine was second fastest overall, winning his heat in 1:56.42.

Fifteen-year-old Michael Phelps, the youngest US male Olympic swimmer since 1932, won his heat in the third fastest overall time of 1:57.30.

Defending champion Denis Pankratov of Russia, who has struggled since the 1996 Atlanta Games, easily made the top 16 qualifiers for the evening's semifinals, taking ninth place overall in 1:58.01.

World championship silver medallist Franck Esposito of France was seventh overall, separating world short-course champion James Hickman and fellow Briton Stephen Parry.



(c) Reuters Limited.