In a session that was supposed to be one for the ages, the women's 100m backstrokers didn't waste any time getting right down to it, despite it only being a semifinal.

Natalie Coughlin was able to win the semifinal fairly easily in 59.43, despite wandering the lane a bit as her troubles of finding a line down the pool continued.

"It went very well," Coughlin said of her swim. "It's exactly where I wanted to be going into the finals. I'm happy with that, I just need to recover and focus on my final."

It was Kirsty Coventry, though, that struck a chord in the Water Cube, rocketing away from the field in the last 25m to better Coughlin's World record, finishing in 58.77.

"I thought I'm good, I'm going to make it into the final," Coventry said. "I slowed my tempo down a little bit. I wasn't expecting it."

South Africa's Jean Basson won the "Phelps-less" semifinal in 1:46.13, continuing his strong swimming. Russian Danila Izotov was second in 1:47.24.

The second semifinal was by far the stronger of the two featuring Phelps, Peter Vanderkaay, Dominik Meichtry, and Taehwan Park. Phelps had it in cruise control, despite a strong kick-out off his final wall that helped him surge by then-leader Meichtry on the final 50.

Vanderkaay and Park swam by Phelps on that final lap, with Vanderkaay registering the win in 1:45.76, followed by Park in 1:45.99. Phelps was third in the heat, and fourth overall in 1:46.28.

Libby Trickett took off right out of the gate, hitting the first wall .26 under world record pace, but faded slightly down the stretch, holding off both the hard-charging Christine Magnuson (57.10) and her own countrywoman Jessicah Schipper (57.25), finishing in 56.73.

"It's more than I could of dreamed of," said Trickett. "More than anything, I'm relieved. Before the race I felt like I was going to vomit, I was so nervous."

In the Men's 100m Breast, Kosuke Kitajima became the first man under 59 seconds in the 100m breast with a stunning 58.91 effort.

"My performance was perfect and ideal," said Kitajima. "I would have been baffled if you did not say that was perfect. Time is something to be smashed anytime, but at this moment that I marked 58 seconds I couldn't be happier."

Alexander Dale Oen was second in 59.20, followed by Hughes Dubosq in 59.37. American Brendan Hansen, the former world record holder and world champion in the event finished fourth in 59.57.

“I knew that I wasn’t at my best and that takes a toll on you, but I you can’t dwell on it and just have to go after it," Hansen said. "I knew I only had to swim fast once. It was my best swim and I went for it.”

In the women's semifinals of the same event, heavy favorite Liesel Jones once again came out of the second semifinal to come out on top in 1:05.08. American Rebecca Soni won the first semi in 1:07.07 to take the second position overall. Austrian Mirna Jukic was third in 1:07.27.

In the semifinals of the Men's 100m Backstroke, Australian Hayden Stoekel was first in 52.97, followed by American Matt Grevers in 52.99. Stoekel's time set an Olympic record in the event, breaking the record of 53.06 that had been set by Russian Arkady Vyatchanin in the previous semifinal of the same event, which netted him the third position going into the finals of the event. The world record holder, American Aaron Piersol, safely advanced to finals in the fifth position with a 53.56 effort.

Despite not producing a world record, the women's 400m was the most dramatic of the evening. Frenchwoman and defending Olympic champion Laure Manadou went out fast the first 200m, and looked to be in good shape.

Then Katie Hoff made her move. Pulling out from the field further off of each wall, Hoff put distance between her and the field and had things well in hand heading into her last wall.

However, Hoff wasn't the only swimmer who had a move left to make. Great Britain's Rebecca Adlington put on a move the final 50m and closed rapidly on Hoff down the last 25m of the race, just touching out Hoff, who finished in the silver position in 4:03.29, just behind the 4:03.22 of Adlington. Adlington's countrywoman Joanne Jackson took the bronze in 4:03.52.

"I gave it everything I possibly had, but they got me in the end," Hoff said. "I felt like I was a good racer, but I feel like I should gotten my hand on the wall first."

In easily the most dramatic swim of the meet thus far, the American men dropped nearly four seconds off the current world record in the 400m Free Relay, clocking 3:08.24. Jason Lezak anchored the American relay in a jaw-dropping 46.06 to surge the Americans past the French, who were heavy favorites going into the event.


Overall, an amazing five teams were faster than the previous record, which was set by the Americans this morning in prelims.

Individually, Australian Eamon Sullivan broke the world record in the 100m free leading off the Australian relay in 47.24. Michael Phelps broke the American record in the 100m free with a 47.51 leadoff on the relay.

John Lesko is the Editor of Swimnetwork.com. Scott Goldblatt contributed to this report.