Ian Thorpe claimed his fifth gold medal of the world championships in Japan when he anchored Australia to a new world record in the men's 4x200m freestyle relay final this morning. Along with team-mates Grant Hackett, Michael Klim and Bill Kirby, the Australians never looked in danger of missing out on gold and Thorpe put in a rousing finish to bring the team home in an amazing time of 7mins 4.66 seconds, well inside the 7:07.05 world mark the victorious Australian Olympic quartet clocked in Sydney last September.
Thorpe, who had finished fourth in the 100m freestyle final earlier in the session, has already won gold in the 200, 400 and 800m freestyle and the 4x100m freestyle relay during the first four days of pool action. Italy took the silvers in 7:10.86 and the US the bronzes in 7:13.69.
Filed by Shane Murray
