France's Leon Marchand smashed Michael Phelps's last remaining world record on Sunday while Australia's Ariarne Titmus blew her 400m freestyle rivals out of the water at swimming's world championships. Phelps's benchmark of 4:03.84 had stood since the 2008 Beijing Olympics and was the longest-held world record in swimming. Phelps's world record was one of three to fall on a dramatic opening night in the southern Japanese city of Fukuoka. It pitted Olympic champion Titmus against Canada's world record-holder Summer McIntosh and American defending world champion Katie Ledecky. The 19-year-old was on pace to break the world record at the 300m mark but came home in 3:40.68, missing the record by 0.61 sec.

Source: News 24 July 23, 2023 19:39 UTC