BEIJING - American 4x200 metres freestyle relay set a world record at the Beijing Olympics on Wednesday morning.

The quartet of Michael Phelp (1:43.31), Ryan Lochte (1:44.28), Ricky Berens (1:46.29) and Peter Vanderkaay (1:44.68), completed the course with a time of 6:58.56, shaving almost 5 seconds off the previous mark set by USA at last year Worlds in Melbourne.

Russian team composed of Nikita Lobintsev (1:46.64), Evgeniy Lagunov (1:46.56), Danila Izotov (1:445.85) and Alexander Sukhorukov (1:44.65) placed second in a new European record time of 7:03.70. The previous mark was set in yesterday’s semifinal by Italy in 7:07.84.

World record evolution (Time, Team/Nationality, Place, Date):

7:03.24 United States USA Melbourne 30.03.07
7:04.66 Australia AUS Fukuoka 27.07.01
7:07.05 Australia AUS Sydney 19.09.00
7:08.79 Australia AUS Sydney 25.08.99
7:11.86 Australia AUS Kuala Lumpur 13.09.98