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MANCHESTER, England, April 12. IN the final event of the evening at the FINA Short Course World Championships, the women from the Netherlands failed to disappoint, as the Dutch quartet chopped more than a second off of the former world record and slid under the 3:30 barrier.
The foursome of Hinkelien Schreuder, Femke Heemskerk, Inge Dekker and Marleen Veldhuis put together a world-record standard of 3:29.42, resetting the 2007 record that was also set by the Netherlands.
The Netherlands women also reset their championship record of 3:33.32.
The splits for the record-setting relay are as follows:
Schreuder (53.62)
Heemskerk (52.61)
Dekker (51.76)
Veldhuis (51.43)
Two other teams bettered the former championship mark as Australia (3:32.00) and Great Britain (3:32.88) each finished second and third, respectively. Australia's Angie Bainbridge overtook the British relay on the anchor leg, overcoming a quick start by Great Britain. Great Britain was half a second ahead of the world-record-setting Dutch relay at the halfway point.
Sweden finished up fourth with a time of 3:34.64. The United States finished fifth in a time of 3:34.96.
China (3:41.92), Germany (3:43.67) and South Africa (3:45.27) rounded out the eight relays that competed in the championship final.