Swimming: De Bruijn lines up third gold

Inge de Bruijn, who has broken two world records and won two Olympic titles this week, headed remorselessly towards a golden treble when she posted far and away the fastest time in the women's 50 metres freestyle heats on Friday.

The 27-year-old Dutchwoman won the final heat in 24.46 seconds, eclipsing the 24.79 Olympic record established by China's Yang Wenyi at the 1992 Barcelona Games and falling a mere 0.07 seconds shy of her own 24.39 world record.

The nearest anyone else could get to De Bruijn was the 24.96 of American Dara Torres, the 100m freestyle joint bronze medallist who finished half a second adrift and was the only other woman to beat 25 seconds.

American world and defending Olympic champion Amy van Dyken, a distant second in De Bruijn's heat, clocked the third-fastest overall time of 25.04 among the 16 qualifiers for the evening's semifinals.

European champion Therese Alshammar of Sweden, silver medallist behind the Dutchwoman in the 100m freestyle final, won her heat in 25.24 for the fourth-best overall time.

De Bruijn broke her own world record in Sunday's 100m butterfly final and accomplished a similar feat in the semifinals of the 100m freestyle on her way to winning Thursday's final.

New Zealand's Vivienne Rignall qualified seventh for the semifinals in the time of 25.52, breaking her own New Zealand record.

- REUTERS