FAST IMPROVER ECLIPSES SWIMMING'S SUPERSTAR
In just one minute and 42 seconds German Paul Biedermann today stamped himself as the new star of world swimming, because of both the time he swam and the calibre of the man he beat. DAVID MOASE reports ...
As Michael Phelps crushed his rivals in the 200m freestyle final of last year's Beijing Olympic Games, anyone looking for his next challenger probably wouldn't have paid much attention to the swimmer in lane two.
That swimmer had started slowly, gained a few positions throughout the race but had never really looked in the same class as Phelps or any of the medallists. That swimmer had finished in 1:46.00, 3.04 seconds behinds the seemingly untouchable winner.
That swimmer was Paul Biedermann.
In Beijing, Biedermann had just turned 22 years old and it seemed as if he had probably reached the high point of his career. Finishing fifth in the 200m final looked a pretty good achievement after he had placed only sixth in his heat of the 400m on the opening day of the swimming competition.
His finishing time in the 200m final appeared even better a day or two later when, while leading off Germany's 4x200m relay, he could do no better than 1:47.48.
How things have changed in the past 50 weeks.
Today Biedermann swam 1:42.00, nearly a full second faster than the time Phelps recorded to win gold in Beijing and an improvement for the German of exactly four seconds on his Olympic final time.
FOUR SECONDS!!!
Swimmers of Biedermann's age can spend the rest of their career trying to make that sort of improvement. Wearing the Arena X-Glide suit he has done it in less than a year.
If the influence of the new-age suits set to be banned next year can be demonstrated in one swim, then this was it.
Biedermann led the field from the start of today's final and never looked like losing. Phelps swam just outside his Beijing time but never looked capable of catching the human torpedo in the next lane.
In the last 75 metres many expected Phelps's previously unmatched finishing speed to drag him closer to the German and maybe even overtake.
In the end though, Biedermann extended his lead thanks to a 25.70 final 50 metres - 0.81 faster than Phelps.
The defeat of the man who won eight gold medals in Beijing was so devastating that Phelps has indicated he may not swim another international meet until next year when the super suits have been banned.
Further back, Australia's Kenrick Monk swam a big personal best time of 1:45.46 to finish in fifth place. Despite finishing three seconds behind the winner, at 21 years of age he may well take inspiration from what Biedermann has achieved and aim for similar improvement.
At the World Championships in Melbourne two years ago, Biedermann finished seventh in the final in a time of 1:48.09. In Rome, that would have placed him 23rd in the heats, not even worthy of a place in the semi-finals.
He will celebrate his 23rd birthday next week. It is hard to imagine he could wish for anything more than he has achieved this week.
SPOFFORTH SUITS HERSELF AS SEEBOHM GETS BRONZE
In a session when another four world records were set - making the total 15 in just three days - one of the new marks was a 
little different.
Great Britain's Gemma Spofforth staged a storming finish to claim gold and the world record in the 100m backstroke final in a time of 58.12 seconds.
What made her effort stand out from the rest was her choice of swimwear. Spofforth wore a Speedo LZR Racer - the suit that sent the technology war out of control last year but which has been surpassed by a number of others this year.
While many swimmers have chosen not to wear the LZR, Spofforth stuck solid and was rewarded with gold.
The Brit wasn't as quick early as some of her rivals, particularly fastest qualifier Anastasia Zueva who was well under world record pace at the turn.
But the Russian couldn't maintain the pace and was caught by Spofforth in the final few strokes.
Also finishing powerfully was Australia's Emily Seebohm, also in a LZR, who dug deep in the last 15 metres to finish third in 58.88 - her first time under 59 seconds - and claim Australia's second bronze medal in the pool at Rome.
THREE GOLD MEDALS BUT NO WORLD RECORDS
It is an indication of the ease with which world records have been broken in Rome that it is newsworthy when a gold medal is not accompanied by the initials ‘WR'.
That happened three times this morning.
American Rebecca Soni, after breaking Leisel Jones's world record in the semi-finals of the 100m breaststroke yesterday, backed up that effort by taking gold in a time only slightly slower. 
Her 1:04.93 was outside her new record by 0.09 but still good enough for a comfortable victory ahead of Russian Yuliya Efimova and fellow American Kasey Carlson.
The unlucky swimmer of the race was Australia's Sarah Katsoulis who used a brave race plan to put herself right in the medal hunt.
She led at the 50m turn and at times looked capable of causing a boilover but faded in the final 20 metres to finish fourth, missing a medal by 0.11.
Yesterday's elimination of world record holder Aaron Peirsol in the semi-finals of the men's 100m backstroke left the final wide open and it produced the most thrilling race of the day.
Japan's Junya Koga emerged from a tight finish in first place and with a championship record time of 52.26. Helge Meeuw of Germany was second and Spain's Aschwin Wildeboer third.
The women's 1500m provided plenty of thrills for the home crowd with Italy's Alessia Filippi surging mid-race to take an impressive win in a championship record 15:44.93. She held off Denmark's Lotte Friis and Romanian Camelia Potec.
Australia's Melissa Gorman finished seventh in 16:09.66, taking seven seconds off the personal best she swam in yesterday's heat.
DIVA DIVES IN FOR ANOTHER RECORD
Italian superstar Federica Pellegrini will go into tomorrow's 200m freestyle final as a hot favourite after smashing her own 
world record in the semi-finals.
The 400m freestyle winner dominated the first semi-final to win by two body lengths and set a new best of 1:53.67, 0.80 better than the world record she set in March.
American Dana Vollmer and Britain's Joanne Jackson were hard to split in the second semi-final and will be Pellegrini's biggest challengers.
Australia's Ellen Fullerton missed the final but swam a personal best of 1:57.43, while Stephanie Rice swam 1:58.33 in the semi-finals.
Breaststroke hero Brenton Rickard is in with a chance of winning another medal after qualifying fourth fastest for the final of the 50m dash.
A day after winning the 100m, Rickard swam a personal best 27.13 to finish third in his semi behind the world record swim of South African Cameron van der Burgh (26.74).
Christian Sprenger would have been disappointed with the time of 27.88 that saw him ranked 37th in the heats.
Grant Hackett's 800m freestyle world record looks under real threat after today's heats.
Tunisian Oussama Mellouli cruised to a time of 7:41.82 to lead the qualifiers and be just over three seconds behind's Hackett's best of 7:38.65 set in 2005.
After a series of highly competitive heats, Australians Robert Hurley (7:50.65, 10th fastest) and Ryan Napoleon (7:53.92, 12th) missed the final but both swam big personal bests.