American Kate Douglass broke the 50m freestyle world record twice in one day as she dominated at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Irvine, California.

The double Olympic champion won the final in a blistering 23.19 seconds, shattering the 23.49 world record she set hours earlier in the heats.

It marks the third time 24-year-old Douglass has broken the world record after swimming 23.59 in June before compatriot Gretchen Walsh lowered the mark to 23.55 nine days later.

Walsh finished second in the final with a time of 23.74, with Australia’s Meg Harris coming third.

At the European Aquatics Championships in Paris, Germany’s Johannes Liebmann knocked nearly four seconds off the world record in the men’s 1500m freestyle.

The 19-year-old completed the distance in 14 minutes 26.79 seconds – 3.88secs faster than the previous record which was set by American Bobby Finke at the 2024 Olympics, also held in the French capital.

Liebmann became the first swimmer to go under 14:30 for the distance as he slashed the most time off the record since Australia’s Grant Hackett in 2001.

Three-time Olympic champion Hackett took more than seven seconds off when he swam 14:34.56 – a record which stood for 10 years.