By John Lohn MELBOURNE, Australia, March 30. THE 50 freestyle is always a nail-biting, guns-blazing event and the semifinals of the one-lap sprint were no different tonight. A surprise as

By John Lohn MELBOURNE, Australia, March 30. VETERAN Therese Alshammar of Sweden, racing out of Lane One in the second semifinal, blitzed the championship record in the 50 butterfly semifinals,

By John Lohn MELBOURNE, Australia, March 30. THE last time Aaron Peirsol lost the 200 backstroke on the international level was at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. Until tonight.

By John Lohn MELBOURNE, Australia, March 30. PULLING away in the final few meters, Australia's Libby Lenton pulled out victory in a sensational final of the 100 freestyle. Tying for

By John Lohn MELBOURNE, Australia, March 30. THE health of Brendan Hansen, forced to pull out the 200 breaststroke due to a virus, has dramatically improved. Hansen indicated via e-mail

By John Lohn MELBOURNE, Australia, March 29. PROPELLED by a splendid leadoff leg by Peter Vanderkaay, the United States easily posted the top time of the preliminaries of the 800

By John Lohn MELBOURNE, Australia, March 29. SWIMMING in Lane One of the final heat, Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry threw down the hammer in the preliminaries of the 200 backstroke. Posting

By John Lohn MELBOURNE, Australia, March 29. THE first step toward the head-to-head battle for gold in the 100 butterfly between Ian Crocker and Michael Phelps went down smoothly in

By John Lohn MELBOURNE, Australia, March 29. SEEKING her third freestyle crown of the World Championships, France's Laure Manaudou was the top qualifier for the final of the 800 freestyle.

By John Lohn MELBOURNE, Australia, March 29. ALWAYS one of the most exciting events on the program, the splash-and-dash preliminaries featured 24 heats, with Poland's Bart Kizierowski securing the No.