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ROME, Italy, July 26. SWEDEN's Sarah Sjostrom surprised the crowd with a world record in the women's 100 fly to start off the FINA World Championships.
Sjostrom clocked a 56.44 in the semifinal round to break Inge de Bruijn's global mark of 56.61 set back in 2000. Sjostrom smashed her preliminary time of 56.76.
Australia's Jessicah Schipper finished second in 57.08, while Dana Vollmer of the U.S. qualified third in 57.19.
"I was feeling my stroke and figuring out what I needed to do," Vollmer said. "I don't do a lot of semifinals. I was just using easy speed, and saving it up for finals tonight. I am excited, because I love relays. I always go a lot faster than in my individual races."
Norway's Ingvild Snildal qualified fourth in 57.20, while China's Jiao Liuyang touched fifth in 57.25. France's Aurore Mongel took sixth in 57.39, while Brazil's Gabriella Silva placed seventh in 57.42.
The Netherlands' Marleen Veldhuis and China's Zhou Yafei set up a swimoff for the final spot with eighth-place times of 57.56. Veldhuis won the swimoff, 57.38 to 57.62.