MELBOURNE, Australia -- Michael Phelps of the United States broke his own world record in the men's 400 meters individual medley final to collect his seventh gold medal at the world championships on Sunday.
Phelps, 21, won in four minutes 06.22 seconds to wipe 2.04 off the previous mark of 4:08.26 which he set at the 2004 Athens Olympics. It was his fourth individual world record of the week.
Phelps's team mate Ryan Lochte finished second in 4:09.74 after leading at the 200 and Italian Luca Marin was third in 4:09.88.
Phelps, who also won the 200 medley, 200 freestyle, 200 butterfly, 100 butterfly and two relays, became the first person to win seven gold medals at a single world championships, bettering the previous record of six set by Australia's Ian Thorpe at Fukuoka, Japan in 2001.
"I didn't expect to be two seconds under my world record tonight," said the 21-year-old from Michigan.
"I knew this was going to be the hardest race. I was emotionally dead, almost physically dead and I had to step up.
"I didn't feel good this morning, didn't feel good in warm-up so I tried to block it out and think about what I did in training and use it in the race."
Phelps had been bidding to win eight events and go one better than American Mark Spitz's golden haul of seven at the 1972 Munich Olympics, but his chances were dashed when the U.S. team were disqualified from the medley relay during Sunday's morning heats.
The U.S. set the fastest time in the heats but were disqualified when Ian Crocker left the starting blocks too early at the second changeover.
Without the heavily favored U.S. in the final, it was a wide-open race that had the screaming crowd on its feet throughout.
Australians Matt Welsh, Brenton Rickard, Andrew Lauterstein and Eamon Sullivan outtouched Japan by 0.23 seconds for the gold. Russia finished third.
Get over
Phelps, who did not swim in the heats but would have taken part in the final had the Americans qualified, said it was a mistake they would get over.
"Team USA goes into a meet as one, and that's how we're going to exit. Everything can't go perfect so it's all about how you adapt from these things and learn from your experiences," said Phelps.
"It definitely wasn't intentional. They all wanted to swim and they all wanted to get us into the finals tonight and that's the goal but sometimes you slip and make a mistake.
"Ian will battle back from that and next time when we have a relay like that we'll remember this."
Crocker was back in the pool for the first time since losing the 100 butterfly to Phelps the night before
Neil Walker, who swam the anchor freestyle leg called it "just an unlucky exchange,"
Walker attributed Crocker's mistake to "a little bit of overexcitement."
"Ian had such an awesome race last night with Michael Phelps. To get back up the next morning is tough to do in the morning relay," he said.
Crocker completed the exchange with Scott Usher 0.04 seconds early -- one-hundredth of a second outside the allowable time, so no protest could be lodged.
There was disappointment for the hosts when Grant Hackett's long stranglehold on the 1500 freestyle came to a shuddering halt.
Unbeaten for a decade, Hackett went into the championships under an injury cloud and could only manage seventh place as Polish teenager Mateusz Sawrymowicz stormed to the gold in 14:45.91.
"Every athlete goes through difficult times in their career," Hackett said.
"I am proud of myself for getting up there. People thought I had plenty to lose but I had nothing to lose."
Gerhard Zandberg won the men's 50 backstroke in 24.98 to provide South Africa with their second gold medal of the week following Roland Schoeman's win in the men's 50 butterfly.
Phelps, 21, won in four minutes 06.22 seconds to wipe 2.04 off the previous mark of 4:08.26 which he set at the 2004 Athens Olympics. It was his fourth individual world record of the week.
Phelps's team mate Ryan Lochte finished second in 4:09.74 after leading at the 200 and Italian Luca Marin was third in 4:09.88.
Phelps, who also won the 200 medley, 200 freestyle, 200 butterfly, 100 butterfly and two relays, became the first person to win seven gold medals at a single world championships, bettering the previous record of six set by Australia's Ian Thorpe at Fukuoka, Japan in 2001.
"I didn't expect to be two seconds under my world record tonight," said the 21-year-old from Michigan.
"I knew this was going to be the hardest race. I was emotionally dead, almost physically dead and I had to step up.
"I didn't feel good this morning, didn't feel good in warm-up so I tried to block it out and think about what I did in training and use it in the race."
Phelps had been bidding to win eight events and go one better than American Mark Spitz's golden haul of seven at the 1972 Munich Olympics, but his chances were dashed when the U.S. team were disqualified from the medley relay during Sunday's morning heats.
The U.S. set the fastest time in the heats but were disqualified when Ian Crocker left the starting blocks too early at the second changeover.
Without the heavily favored U.S. in the final, it was a wide-open race that had the screaming crowd on its feet throughout.
Australians Matt Welsh, Brenton Rickard, Andrew Lauterstein and Eamon Sullivan outtouched Japan by 0.23 seconds for the gold. Russia finished third.
Get over
Phelps, who did not swim in the heats but would have taken part in the final had the Americans qualified, said it was a mistake they would get over.
"Team USA goes into a meet as one, and that's how we're going to exit. Everything can't go perfect so it's all about how you adapt from these things and learn from your experiences," said Phelps.
"It definitely wasn't intentional. They all wanted to swim and they all wanted to get us into the finals tonight and that's the goal but sometimes you slip and make a mistake.
"Ian will battle back from that and next time when we have a relay like that we'll remember this."
Crocker was back in the pool for the first time since losing the 100 butterfly to Phelps the night before
Neil Walker, who swam the anchor freestyle leg called it "just an unlucky exchange,"
Walker attributed Crocker's mistake to "a little bit of overexcitement."
"Ian had such an awesome race last night with Michael Phelps. To get back up the next morning is tough to do in the morning relay," he said.
Crocker completed the exchange with Scott Usher 0.04 seconds early -- one-hundredth of a second outside the allowable time, so no protest could be lodged.
There was disappointment for the hosts when Grant Hackett's long stranglehold on the 1500 freestyle came to a shuddering halt.
Unbeaten for a decade, Hackett went into the championships under an injury cloud and could only manage seventh place as Polish teenager Mateusz Sawrymowicz stormed to the gold in 14:45.91.
"Every athlete goes through difficult times in their career," Hackett said.
"I am proud of myself for getting up there. People thought I had plenty to lose but I had nothing to lose."
Gerhard Zandberg won the men's 50 backstroke in 24.98 to provide South Africa with their second gold medal of the week following Roland Schoeman's win in the men's 50 butterfly.
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