Roundup: USA wins 2 golds with 2 world records in Kazan

The United States grabbed two gold medals with two world records at the seventh competition day of the swimming world championwships here on Saturday.

The 18-year-old Katie Ledecky continued her outstanding performance in Kazan as she timed eight minutes 7.39 seconds to dominate the 800m freestyle final, 3.61 seconds faster than her previous world record set in last year.

Lauren Boyle of New Zealand finished second in 8:17.65, an Oceanian record, and Jaz Carlin of Britain took bronze in 8:18.15.

Ledecky has collected golds in the 200m, 400m and 1,500m freestyle, plus anchoring the women's 4x200m freestyle relay win. She also twice lowered her own 1,500m world record in Kazan.

The United States timed 3:23.05 to win the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay title. The previous world record was held by Australia in 3:23.29. The Netherlands came second in 3:23.10, while Canada ranked third in 3:23.59. China was seventh.

China took a bronze in women's 50m butterfly as Lu Ying, runner-up of the event at the Barcelona worlds, timed a new Asian record 25.37 seconds.

"I trained in Austria before the worlds," said Lu. "I improved my personal best, but I am not happy with my performance. There is still a lot to improve."

Swedish Sarah Sjostrom grabbed the gold with a competition record 24.96, while Denmark's Jeanette Ottesen took the silver in 25.34.

French Olympic champion Florent Manaudou beat Nathan Adrian of United States to win the men's 50m freestyle in 21.19 seconds. Brazil's Bruno Fratus was third in 21.55.

"This is my third competition in Kazan," said the French. "Of course, I am very happy. I couldn't ask for more. It is so great that I have won gold today. I knew I would manage to swim fast but Nathan Adrian swam faster than me in the semifinal. That is why it was hard for me to win in the final. But, nevertheless, I did it!"

Australia's Emily Seebohm dominated the women's 200m back final in an Oceanian record time 2:05.81. US star Missy Franklin, London Olympic champion and world record holder of the event, settled for the silver in 2:06.34. Hungary's Katinka Hosszu timed 2:06.84 to take the bronze.

"Missy Franklin is always a tough rival, she is a running world champion," said Seebohm. "And I knew that it was going to be a tough race with her. But I was just sticking to my race plan, and that's what helped me win tonight."

South Africa also pocketed a gold medal with Chad Le Clos's 100m butterfly title. Clos timed 50.56, 0.31 seconds faster than Laszlo Cseh of Hungary, who took silver in 50.87. Singapore's Joseph Isaac Schooling broke the Asian record to finish third with 50.96. China's Li Zhuhao ranked eighth. Endit