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Venue:<\/strong> Fukuoka. Japan <\/span>Date:<\/strong> 23-30 July <\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n| Coverage:<\/strong> BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, 5 live & BBC Sport website<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n | Australia’s Ariarne Titmus and Frenchman Leon Marchand both set new swimming world records on the opening day in the pool at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.<\/span><\/p>\n Titmus, 22, won a high-class women’s 400m freestyle final in a time of three minutes 55.38 seconds.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Marchand knocked 1.34secs off Michael Phelps’ last remaining world record in the men’s 400m individual medley.<\/span><\/p>\n The 21-year-old’s time of 4:02.50 beat the mark set by Phelps in 2008.<\/span><\/p>\n “That was insane,” said Marchand, who is set to be one of the faces of the 2024 Paris Olympics.<\/span><\/p>\n “That was the most painful thing I ever did. To do it here is just crazy. The best is yet to come.”<\/span><\/p>\n United States’ Carson Foster came home more than four seconds behind Marchand in second place, while Japan’s Daiya Seto took bronze.<\/span><\/p>\n Olympic champion Titmus shaved 0.7secs off the previous record in the women’s 400m freestyle, set by Canada’s Summer McIntosh in March.<\/span><\/p>\n Defending world champion Katie Ledecky, 26, claimed silver, while New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather, 19, won bronze and McIntosh, 16, finished outside the medals in fourth.<\/span><\/p>\n “I was really excited for this race,” said Titmus on her return to Japan, having won gold at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. <\/span><\/p>\n “I haven’t really raced the best in the world since the Olympics. Katie and Summer always put up a great fight and I’m glad we could put on a show.”<\/span><\/p>\n The Australian team of Mollie O’Callaghan, Shayna Jack, Meg Harris and Emma McKeon also broke the world record in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay, winning gold in 3:27.96, ahead of the United States and China. The British team of Anna Hopkin, Lucy Hope, Abbie Wood and Freya Anderson were fourth.<\/span><\/p>\n Australia’s men also won 4x100m freestyle relay gold, while the British team was disqualified in the heats. <\/span><\/p>\n Earlier, Australia’s Sam Short, 19, won the opening final of the championships, claiming gold in the men’s 400m freestyle after touching home just two hundredths of a second ahead of Tunisia’s Olympic champion Ahmed Hafnaoui, 20. Germany’s Lukas Martens, 21, won bronze.<\/span><\/p>\n And Britain’s Jacob Peters, 22, finished second in his men’s 50m butterfly semi-final, ahead of compatriot Ben Proud, 28, in fourth, as both qualified for Monday’s final.<\/span><\/p>\n |