It must be something they serve in the breakfast, because these morning swimming finals are producing some incredible races.

First up Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe broke the 100m backstroke world record by 0.2 secs, and that was in a semi-final! After her stunning silver medal swim in the 400m individual medley she’ll be hot favourite for the final.

Michael Phelps came a worrying third in his 200m freestyle semi but qualified comfortably and later events suggest he was perhaps saving himself for something special (read on…!)

In the 100m butterfly final Aussie Liz Trickett managed to hold her previously questionable nerve and shoot to gold in near world record time.

Things started to really heat up in the men’s 100m breaststroke final. Norwegian Alexander Dale Oen had nearly broken the world record in his semi-final yesterday but he was only good enough for silver today. Gold medal went to the 2004 champion, Kosuke Kitajima of Japan, who smashed the world record by 0.22 seconds with a time of 58.91.

These breaststroke sprinters must have been putting in some serious dynamic power work outside of the pool, transferring their new-found strength into the water. Typical exercises required for explosive breaststroke include high pulls, power cleans, front squats, stiff-leg deadlifts, DB bench press and inverse pulls. Kitajima could produce a double-double if he successfully defends his 200m title.

The women’s 400m freestyle final was one of the best races I have ever witnessed, and not just because Brits finished with gold and bronze! The five fastest women of all-time were competing in the final so it was always going to be spectacular. Phelps’ training partner 19 year old Katie Hoff who won bronze in the 400m medley yesterday seemed to have it wrapped up with 50m to go. World record holder Federica Pellegrini seemed out of it, and was. Britain’s Jo Jackson was in contention. Yet out of nowhere Britain’s Rebecca Adlington, also 19 who has suffered from glandular fever and fatigue syndrome before this year, executed the perfect race to pip Hoff to gold. She then complained on TV that she was a little disappointed with her time!

It appeared though that the best was yet to come. The men’s 4X100m freestyle was spectacular. The Aussies kicked things off, as Eamon Sullivan pipped Phelps in the first leg with a world record time of 47.24. It was the French though who gained control after stunningly consistent swims. Alain Bernard was a length ahead with 25m to go, and it looked like Phelps’ attempt at eight golds was undone on day two of finals. Jason Lezak had other plans.

Swimming with a style that looked like he was trying to climb on the back of Bernard and drown him, he produced a superhuman effort that defied hydrodynamics and dragged himself into contention. It all came down to the touch, and the American got there 0.08 secs quicker. The world record time was an obscene 3:08.24 min - 4.93 seconds quicker than the winning time in Athens 2004!

The 4X100m freestyle is one of the two events in Athens where Phelps failed to win gold. His celebrations at the end, flexing his torso, suggests he knew this would be tough. If he goes on to make history, he’ll be forever indebted to the powerhouse Jason Lezak.

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