U.S. swimmer breaks one-minute barrier

Agence France Presse, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

American Natalie Coughlin broke the 100 meter backstroke world record at the United States Swim Championships on Tuesday becoming the first female to break the one minute barrier.

Coughlin's time of 59.58 seconds beat China's Cihong He's eight year old mark of 1 minute 00.16 sec.

"I was glad I finally did it," Coughlin said. "Breaking the world record has been in the back of my mind, and I knew I could do it tonight."

The 19-year-old Coughlin became the first American to hold the world record since Catherine Ferguson in 1966.

Coughlin's record in the 100m backstroke was the ninth world record broken at the Hall of Fame Aquatic Complex, and the first since 1991.

"It takes a lot of pressure off," Coughlin said. "I'm glad people had such confidence in me to say, 'When's 59 going to happen'.

"They were saying that a year ago, when one minute was new to me. Now I can just relax and enjoy the rest of the meet.

"My coach told me I am now a part of swimming trivia," she said. "People can break records, but they can never take that distinction away from me."

Expectations were high in other races. Nate Dusing stole the title in the 200m freestyle out from under some of America's top swimmers, including Klete Keller, Michael Phelps, Chad Carvin and Scott Goldblatt.

Dusing, 23, started so fast that his first 50m split was ahead of world record pace. He was able to hold on and finish with a time of 1:47.08, a meet record.

"I looked at my competition, and I knew they were all good at the 400," Dusing said. "I know how to use my speed to get ahead, and I was just praying I could hold on."

In the 100m back, Aaron Peirsol, 19, beat Lenny Krayzelburg. His time of 54.01 was just .47 seconds faster than Krayzelburg.

"This certainly wasn't an easy field," Peirsol said. "I just tried to hold on. I don't think I kicked it up another gear. The 100 is a longer race than I expected."

In other races, Kristy Kowal won the 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:08.53. Four of the top eight finalists in that event finished within 32-hundredths of a second of each other.

Ed Moses won the men's 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:01.11, edging Brendan Hansen, who finished second in a 1:01.43.

Moses has been eying the world record for some time, but fell more than a second short on Tuesday.