Murphy finishes fifth in semi-final

Barry Murphy reached the semi finals of the mens 50 metres breastroke at the world swimming championships in Rome on Tuesday evening.

Murphy was devastated when he learned he would not be part of the Beijing Olympics squad but showed that his decision to aim for London 2012 is paying off.

He joined the world's elite in the event, winning his heat in 27.26 seconds, a new Irish record and for a short while, a new World Championship best.

In the semis, the Dubliner finished 5th in the first of the two races clocking a time that was slightly slower than his heat time and 13th overall.

There is more possible rehabilitation for the US based swimmer to come as the heats for the men's 50 and 100 Freestyle are still to come, as well as at least one relay for the Irish squad.

Andrew Bree went in an earlier heat of the 50m breaststroke as he continued to build up to his big event, the 200m breaststroke, the heats of which are on Thursday morning.

Ireland had two other swimmers in Tuesday morning's heats, but Claire Dawson and Niamh O'Sullivan put in rather ordinary swims and failed to emerge to the evening semi-finals.

As the world records continued to tumble on day three of the week long meet FINA the world governing body announced the banning of the controversial 100% Polyurethane suits ahead of defeat for Michael Phelps in the mens 200 Freestyle, his first such loss in five years.

The suit controversy was a prelude to the finals session where the first race of the evening was the eagerly awaited mens 200 metres freestyle in which Paul Bierderman of Germany, already a winner in the 400 free, took on the legendary Phelps.

At the end of the four lengths of the pool it was the German, wearing one of the controversial swimsuits, who took the gold in another world record time of 1:42.00 seconds, handing the American his first defeat in the event since the 'race of the century' at the Athens Olympics in 2004.

Wednesday will see four more Irish swimmers in action. Aisling Cooney goes in the womens 50 metres backstroke, Ryan Harrison and Barry Murphy are entered in the Blue Riband - the mens 100 freestyle - while Grainne Murphy will compete in the womens 200 meters butterfly.