Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe has set a world record in the 400-metre individual medley at the short-course swimming world championships at Manchester in England.

Coventry finished in 4 minutes, 26.52 seconds at the M.E.N. Arena on Wednesday, beating the previous mark of 4:27.83 set by Yana Klochkova of the Ukraine in 2002.

Hannah Miley of Britain finished second in 4:27.27 and Mireia Belmonte of Spain took bronze in 4:27.55 - both also ahead of Klochkova's old mark.

At the 2004 Athens Olympics, Coventry won the 200 backstroke, finished second in the 100m backstroke and third in the 200m individual medley.

Meanwhile, the United States set a new world record in the men's 400 freestyle relay.

The American team of Ryan Lochte, Bryan Lundquist, Nathan Adrian and Doug Van Wie finished in 3 minutes, 8.44 seconds.

Sweden had set the previous mark of 3:09.57 in 2000.

The Netherlands finished second in 3:09.18 - also ahead of the previous mark - and Sweden were third in 3:10.04.

Italy placed fourth and powerhouse Australia were a disappointing fifth.

The Netherlands set a world record in the women's 800 freestyle relay.

The Dutch team of Inge Dekker, Fernke Heemskerk, Marleen Veldhuis and Ranomi Kromowidjojo finished in 7 minutes, 38.90 seconds.

China had set the previous mark of 7:46.30 at the 2002 short-course worlds in Moscow.

The next three finishers - Britain, Australia and the United States - were also ahead of the old mark.

Britain finished in 7:38.96, while Australia finished in 7:39.01 and the United States finished in 7:45.58.

China were fifth in 7:57.93.

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