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BEIJING: American Aaron Peirsol smashed his world record in defending his 100 metres backstroke Olympic crown in the final at the Beijing Games on Tuesday.
The 25-year-old, swimming in lane two, carved 0.35secs off his mark in a time of 52.54secs in a one-two American finish.
Teammate Matt Grevers took silver in 53.11 with Russian Arkady Vyatchanin and Australian Hayden Stoeckel dead-heating for the bronze medal in 53.18.
"I was a little bit surprised, a little bit relieved," Peirsol said. "It's not every day you feel that way, you never get used to it.
"Having Matt just behind me was the best thing, we wanted to go one-two the whole time."
World champion Peirsol had lowered his own world record at the US trials in Omaha last month to set up his defence of the title he won in Athens.
Peirsol has now broken the 100m backstroke world record five times since his victory in Athens.
The victory took Peirsol to a career four Olympic gold medals and a silver.
It capped a magnificent session in the pool with America winning a total of three gold medals with Michael Phelps in the 200m freestyle in world record time and Natalie Coughlin in the women's 100m backstroke.
"The United States are on a roll right now, hopefully we can keep it up," Peirsol said.
- AFP/yb
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