MARIEKE'S MIRACLE TO SNATCH BUTTERFLY GOLD
August 2: For all the talk of the improvements super suits are making to swimmers' times, it must be remembered that an athlete still has to be zipped inside them and has to perform to the best of their ability, as DAVID MOASE reports ...
Make a mistake or display poor form and no suit - no matter how technologically advanced - will save you.
Or in the case of Australia's Marieke Guehrer, if your get you swim exactly right you can still take advantage of rivals' mistakes.
That is exactly what the Melbourne 23-year-old did in the 50m butterfly final today and she became Australia's third gold medallist in the pool at the 13th FINA World Championships in Rome.
Her winning time of 25.48 is a Commonwealth record but in terms of the supercharged times swum at this meet it was relatively slow.
Gold medal favourites Therese Alshammar and Marleen Veldhuis between them have set five times faster than Guehrer's winning mark.
Alshammar had gone faster in both her heat and the semi-final, when she set the world record of 25.07.
And for 49 metres of today's race the favourites looked set to have the gold medal between them but both mistimed their touch on the wall.
It was in that fraction of a second, that Guehrer, with a perfectly timed finish that would have made her coach Ian Pope proud, pounced to steal the gold medal.
In a desperately close race, China's Zhou Yafei and Norway's Ingvild Snildal also timed their finishes well to take silver and bronze respectively, with Alshammar and Veldhuis relegated to fourth and fifth.
Guehrer, who was stunned when she saw the result posted on the scoreboard, won by 0.09 of a second, while 0.06 covered the placegetters from second to fifth.
FIRED-UP PHELPS TAKES BUTTERFLY INTO NEW TIME ZONE
The world has known for a long time that Michael Phelps is a super swimmer - probably the best of all time.
He confirmed today that apart from all the ability that is zipped into his Speedo LZR suit, he is also the ultimate competitor.
The 100m butterfly wasn't about setting a fast time - although the resulting landmark world record of 49.82 may well not be beaten for a generation - it was a race between two proud and powerful competitors.
The clash between Phelps and Serbia's Milorad Cavic had been brewing since the American's 0.01 second Olympics victory in Beijing and had been stoked by Cavic's comments about swimsuits this week.
Phelps was determined to put Cavic in his place and if he could do it wearing the LZR rather than a new generation suit the victory would be even sweeter.
Phelps's fired-up victory celebration as he sat on the lane ropes flexing his muscles and splashing the water showed just how much the win meant.
As in Beijing, Cavic set off at high speed, hitting the 50m turn 0.14 under the pace of the world record he set in the semi-final.
And the Beijing scenario continued to be repeated as Phelps hit top speed in the second lap and gradually caught his tiring rival.
In the thrilling final 15 metres, he caught and passed Cavic and the only deviation from the Beijing script was that Phelps's victory by 0.13 was more decisive.
Behind the big two, Spain's Rafael Munoz was third in 50.41 while Australia's Andrew Lauterstein set a personal best of 50.85 in finishing fifth.
CATE TAKES FAST TRACK TO 50M FINAL
It had been a quiet world championships for Australia's sprinter Cate Campbell but she made up for lost time with two 
sizzling swims to be fastest qualifier for tomorrow's 50m freestyle final.
Hampered by a hip injury this year that requires an operation after the world championships, Campbell had to wait a week for her first competitive swim.
She grabbed the opportunity with both hands, being fastest in both the heats and the semi-finals of the splash and dash.
The 17-year-old swam 24.24 in the heats and then stepped up the pace to record a personal best 24.08 in the semi-final, comfortably ahead of nearest rivals Marleen Veldhuis of the Netherlands and Germany's Britta Steffen.
The Olympic bronze medallist looks to be in terrific form and with some of her rivals tiring from a gruelling campaign she is well placed for the race for gold.
Team mate Libby Trickett, the second fastest 50m swimmer of all time, was below her best but still qualified sixth fastest in 24.34.
In the men's final, Brazil's Cesar Cielo confirmed himself as king of the sprinters when he completed the 50m-100m double by winning in a championship record 21.08 ahead of Frenchmen Fred Bousquet and Amaury Leveaux.
The result was another triumph for Australian coach Brett Hawke who has both the gold and silver medallists in his Auburn University squad in the United States.
CHINA LEADS WAY TO RELAY GOLD MEDAL
Australia lost the 4x100m medley relay world championship title it has held since 2005 and its world record after a thrilling battle with eventual winners China today.
The Chinese led from start to finish but the Australian team of Emily Seebohm, Sarah Katsoulis, Jessicah Schipper and 
Libby Trickett kept plugging away to come agonisingly close.
After Schipper had reduced the margin to 0.86 at the final changeover, Trickett set out in pursuit of Li Zhesi but finished 0.39 short of victory.
Germany placed third more than three seconds behind the Australians.
Katsoulis will have another shot at gold tomorrow after qualifying fastest for the 50 breaststroke final.
A well-timed finish saw the 25-year-old touch in 30.33, 0.05 ahead of Moniek Nijhuis of the Netherlands, to take lane four for the what will be a wide-open final.
Fellow Aussie Tarnee White qualified seventh fastest after placing third in her semi-final in 30.80.
Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry held off fast-finishing Anastasia Zueva of Russia to win the 200m backstroke final in a world record 2:04.81.
Coventry became the first swimmer under 2:05.00 after leading comfortably all the way but Zueva closed fast in the final 20 metres to finish just 0.13 behind.
Liam Tancock of Great Britain set one of four world records in today's racing when he recorded 24.08 seconds in the 50m backstroke semi-finals.
He leads the qualifiers from Japan's 100m champion Junya Koga (24.29) and France's Camille Lacourt (24.46).
Denmark's Lotte Friis caused a minor upset by winning the women's 800m final in impressive fashion.
Friis took the lead of a competitive race at the halfway point and extended her advantage over the next 200m.
She won in a championship record 8:15.92, holding off a challenge from Italy's Alessia Filippi, who eventually faded in the final lap to allow Great Britain's Joanne Jackson to take the silver medal.
In the men's distance championship, Australia will be without a finalist for the first time since 1986 when the 1500m final is raced tomorrow.
Ryan Napoleon (15:09.55) was 11th fastest in qualifying while Robert Hurley was 14th fastest in 15:14.75.
Leading the contenders for gold is China's Sun Yang, who finished 0.02 ahead of Olympic champion Oussama Mellouli in their heat.
The will be the leading chances of breaking Grant Hackett's world record of 14:34.56, set at the 2001 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.