Australian swimmer Eamon Sullivan and French sprinter Alain Bernard shattered the world record of men's 100-meter freestyle twice within less than 3 minutes in a semifinal race of the Beijing Olympic Games on Wednesday.

Bernard shaved 0.04 seconds off a previous record set by Sullivan in a Monday relay race to clock 47.20 seconds in the first heat, but the Australian, who swam in the second heat, took the record further down to 47.05 seconds.

The world record stood unchallenged for eight years at 47.84 seconds before it was brought down by about 0.7 seconds in 2008.

"I knew this morning that I had to be on my game to get in the final. I didn't watch the first semis on purpose. But when you hear the crowd, you know what has happened," said Sullivan.

"I swam my own race completely. World records don't matter much, they don't win you medals at the end of the day," he added.

"It's a high-level competition, so it's normal. The most important is the final tomorrow (the final)," said Bernard.

The world's top two sprinters will have a dual in the final on Thursday.

Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband, the defending champion, said he is not likely to dominate the race any more. "It's fantastic. This is a new period of time (in swimming), a whole new level, new swimsuits and a new generation. It's unbelievable," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 13, 2008)