PLASTIC IS FANTASTIC AS RECORDS TUMBLE
Rome, July 27: The polyurethane-coated warriors of the water not only set new standards but took swimming so far into the future at the 13th FINA World Championships in Rome this morning that it is almost incomprehensible. DAVID MOASE reports...
Six world records were set on the first night of finals and the biggest surprises came when events were raced and there was no WR against the winner's time.
New world's bests were recorded in all events except the semis of the men's 50m butterfly and 100m breaststroke and, most surprisingly, in the men's 4x100m freestyle relay final where the heavily favoured French were surprised by the Michael Phelps led United States team.
For the Australians there were some promising performances on the first day at the Stadio del Nuoto, including a sizzling 
100m breaststroke heat swim by Brenton Rickard and a bronze medal in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay when Libby Trickett, Marieke Guehrer, Shayne Reese and Felicity Galvez swam a time that bettered the old world record.
If the days of the super suits are numbered and they are to be banned from next year, they will certainly go out with a bang so powerful at these championships that it will change the landscape of swimming. All individual gold medallists wore new-style suits.
Federica Pellegrini thrilled the home crowd by becoming the first woman to swim under four minutes in the 400m freestyle with a time of 3:59.15, while Ian Thorpe's last long course world record was erased by German Paul Biedermann's new best of 3:40.07.
Stephanie Rice was impressive in her semi-final of the 200m individual medley but could do nothing to stop American Ariana Kukors from smashing her world record in the same race with a stunning swim of 2:07.03, 1.42 seconds better than Rice's previous best.
And the trashing of the record books didn't stop there.
Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom, aged just 15, finished in sizzling fashion to set a new world record of 56.44 in the 100m butterfly semi-final, relegating Jessicah Schipper to second fastest qualifier for tomorrow morning's final.
Then in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay final there were two world records set as Germany's Britta Steffen led off with an incredible time of 52.22 to smash her own best and leave Trickett in her wake.
That swim wasn't enough to give the Germans gold, however, as the Netherlands stormed home in another record-setting time, 3:31.72. Germany in second and Australia in third also beat the old world record.
Television swimming commentator Nicole Livingston on One HD probably summed it up best after Kukors's 200m IM effort when she said: "It is almost bordering on ridiculous that she's broken [Rice's record] by that much."
BUT IT'S STILL ONLY A SWIMMING MEET AFTER ALL
Excitement over stunning swims and great racing is fine and controversy over the suits being used in Rome is inevitable but 
it all seems rather insignificant set against the personal pain being experienced by Australian swimmer Meagan Nay and her family.
And the bravery she showed in swimming the heat of the 4x100m freestyle relay will take some beating in these championships.
Nay, 20, was left devastated on the eve of the championships when she learnt her older brother Amos had been killed in a car accident on the NSW North Coast on Saturday morning.
The accident was a tragic echo of the untimely death of her father Robbie, a 1972 Olympic swimmer, in a car crash in 1992 when she was just four years old.
Coach Michael Bohl broke the news to Nay who decided to swim the relay heat for the sake of her teammates. She helped them to a new championship record and the third fastest time for the final.
Training partner and friend Stephanie Rice said after her own heat swim: "She's pretty good. Obviously she's extremely heartbroken, but I think it's so great she's got Bohly and the rest of our squad and the Australian team supporting her, and her family is here with her, which is probably the best thing, and I just hope they can get through this as best as they can."
Nay's mother Karen, stepfather Peter Milburn and sisters Jess and Fiona, are all in Rome to watch her compete.
It is as yet unclear if she will continue to compete at the world championships, with Bohl saying they would ‘play it day by day'.
AND THE SILVER MEDAL FOR BRAVERY GOES TO ...
Australia's Brenton Rickard set a new championship record of 58.89 in his heat of the 100m breaststroke and goes into tomorrow's final as the fourth fastest qualifier but he will have to overcome at least one highly determined rival if he is to win
gold.
American Eric Shanteau is the Lance Armstrong of swimming.
Although he doesn't yet boast the cycling hero's unrivalled record of success, Shanteau and Armstrong do share one important thing - they have both beaten testicular cancer.
Shanteau qualified fastest for tomorrow's final - he beat Rickard's heat time by 0.02 seconds in the semi final to set a new championship record - barely 13 months since being diagnosed with the cancer.
He proved his bravery last year by swimming at the Beijing Olympics despite his dire diagnosis and has continued to improve his form despite an operation to remove the cancer last August. He was given the all-clear last September.
Rickard failed to recapture his heat form in what was by far the fastest semi-final and finished fourth in 59.27 but the South Australian looks strong and is still right in a wide-open race for gold.
Teammate Christian Springer also looked in good form in the heats where he swam 59.52 but a 59.98 in the semi-final wasn't good enough to reach the final.
NOT BAD FOR HER COUNTRY'S THIRD-BEST SWIMMER
You can never doubt the depth of American swimming.
Ariana Kukors could only finish third in the 200m medley at the US trials but she is now the fastest swimmer of all time by nearly a second and a half.
Beaten by Julia Smit and Elizabeth Pelton at the American trials in Indianapolis earlier this month, Kukors is now a white hot favourite to win world championship gold.
She wouldn't have even swum this event in Rome had Pelton not stepped aside to concentrate on other events.
After looking good in her heat, Kukors was stunning in the semi-final, going stroke for stroke with Stephanie Rice in the butterfly and backstroke and then exploding clear in the breaststroke to finish in 2:07.03.
Rice looked in excellent form and her semi swim of 2:08.68 was only just outside her world record.
Kukors aside, she is the class performer of the event and she will be hoping that in the final the upstart American has left her best form in the qualifying rounds.
"I was a bit surprised to be honest. 2:07 was definitely a shock," Kukors told reporters.
SCHIPPER TO TACKLE SWEDISH SENSATION
Australia's Jessicah Schipper goes into tomorrow's 100m butterfly final as the second fastest qualifier but she will have to 
beat the new world record holder to win gold.
Swede Sarah Sjostrom, aged just 15, wiped the long-standing world record of Inge de Bruijn from the record books with a stunning semi-final swim of 56.44.
Schipper showed she is in good form with her time of 57.08 but will need to step up the pace to match the flying Sjostrom.
The most impressive part of the Swede's swimming today was her powerful last 25 metres which saw her catch and pass the television world record line.
Schipper's teammate Felicity Galvez missed the final after recording 57.71 in the semi-finals.
PERSONAL BESTS BUT NO PLACE IN FINALS
Australian World Championship rookies Ellen Fullerton, Robert Hurley and Ryan Napoleon all set personal best times in the
400m freestyle despite failing to reach the finals.
Fullerton finished ninth taking more than half a second off her previous best in 4:08.31. Bronte Barratt finished her heat in 4:15.62.
Hurley finished 11th overall, missing out on the final despite taking 0.63 off his previous best for the event, finishing in 3:46.01 while fellow middle distance swimmer Ryan Napoleon finished 21st overall in 3:47.98, a personal best by 0.04.
Federica Pellegrini was the home town hero as she held of British challengers Jo Jackson and Rebecca Adlington in the 400m final, setting the breakthrough time of 3:59.15 in the process.
Germany's Paul Biedermann was the fastest qualifier for the men's final and he produced a withering finishing burst to pass Tunisia's 1500m Olympic champion Oussama Mellouli to set a new world record of 3:40.07, 0.01 ahead of Ian Thorpe's record held since 2002.
THE BATTLE OF THE SPEED QUEENS - ROUND ONE
Flying freestylers Libby Trickett and Britta Steffen squared off for the first time in these championships when both swam the lead-off leg in the 4x100m freestyle relay final. 
And it was a points victory to the German as she powered her way to a new world record of 52.22, while Trickett wasn't far behind with a personal best of 52.62, making her the second fastest of all time.
There will be more battles to come between the pair in the 50m and 100m freestyle races later in the meet.
Trickett raised plenty of eyebrows with her choice of suit for the relay final.
Despite saying she would stay loyal to Speedo and its LZR Racer suits, she turned out in what appeared to be a Jaked01 suit.
Australian swimmers wearing non-Speedo suits had the manufacturer's logo blacked out.
DAILY AWARDS
Swim of the day: Among the predicted avalanche of world records, Ariana Kukors 2:07.03 in the IM semi-final was the most unexpected. Her effort almost matched by the anchor leg of countryman Adrian Nathan (46.79) in the 4x100m freestyle relay final.
Flop of the day: They may have won a bronze medal but the much-touted French 4x100m relay team were a massive disappointment. No world record, no gold medal, no good.
If I wasn't a swimmer I'd probably be a supermodel (or who would win a gold medal in the good lookers' final): Federica Pellegrini was undoubtedly one of the biggest stars of the day and has the smile and good looks to launch a thousand advertising campaigns.