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Hungary's Daniel Gyurta sets world record in 200m breaststroke

Daniel Gyurta of Hungary set a world record to win the 200-metre breaststroke at the London Olympics on Wednesday.
Hungarian Daniel Gyurta broke the men’s 200-metre breaststroke en route to a gold medal on Wednesday in London. (Mark Duncan/Associated Press)

Daniel Gyurta of Hungary set a world record to win the 200-metre breaststroke at the London Olympics on Wednesday. 

Gyurta clocked 2 minutes, 7.28 seconds, shaving 0.03 off the previous mark set by Christian Sprenger of Australia at the 2009 world championships in a now-banned bodysuit.

Michael Jamieson of Britain touched in 2:07.43 to take the silver medal and Ryo Tateishi of Japan finished in 2:08.29 for bronze.

Two-time defending champion Kosuke Kitajima of Japan finished fourth, ending his bid to become the first man to win the same swimming event at three consecutive Olympics.

China wins more swimming gold

Jiao Liuyang of China set an Olympic record to win the women's 200m butterfly. She was second at the final turn but sprinted into the lead to touch in 2:04.06 seconds, 0.12 quicker than countrywoman Liu Zige's time at the 2008 Beijing Games. 

Mireia Belmonte Garcia of Spain took silver in 2:05.25 and Natsumi Hoshi of Japan finished in 2:05.48 to take bronze.

Phelps, Lochte back at it

One night after becoming the most decorated Olympian ever with his 19th medal, Michael Phelps had a relatively light day, swimming the prelims and semifinals of the 200 IM. Ryan Lochte also competed in the medley, as well as the two rounds of the 200 backstroke — one of his toughest days in London.

Lochte posted the second-fastest time in the backstroke semis, his time of 1:55.40 trailing only fellow American Tyler Clary's 1:54.71. Then, in the IM, he was fastest in 1:56.13, ahead of Hungary's Laszlo Cseh (1:56.74) and Phelps (1:57.11), whose mind might have been on other things.

U.S. swimmer Soni breaks world record in 200 breaststroke

Rebecca Soni of the United States set a world record in the 200-metre breaststroke semifinals at the London Olympics on Wednesday. 

Soni timed 2:20.00 seconds, cutting 0.12 seconds off the previous mark set by Annamay Pierse of Canada at the 2009 world championships in Rome in a now-banned bodysuit.

It was the fifth world record set in the pool at these games.

Rikke Pedersen of Denmark qualified second in 2:22.23 and Satomi Suzuki of Japan was third in 2:22.40.

The top eight finishers qualified for Thursday's final.

Soni was also favored to win the 100 breast but took silver behind surprise 15-year-old winner Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania. 

Meilutyte did not enter the 200.