Ian Thorpe broke his own world record to retain his 400 metres freestyle title at the world swimming championships.
The 18-year-old Australian bided his time as team mate Grant Hackett led through the first 100 metres but hit the front by the 200-metre mark and surged on to win in three minutes 40.17 seconds. Thorpe had been more than one-and-a-half seconds outside his world record split at the halfway point but his acceleration carried him inside the world mark of 3:40.59 he set in winning the Olympic title in Sydney last September.
Hackett, beaten to the gold by Thorpe in the last world championships in Perth in 1998, had to settle for silver again, clocking 3:42.51. European champion Emiliano Brembilla snatched the bronze in 3:45.11, edging out Olympic silver medallist and fellow Italian Massimiliano Rosolino, who finished in 3:45.41. Thorpe became the youngest men's individual world swimming champion ever when, at 15, he won the event in 1998.
Filed by Pat Nugent
