Pedersen breaks women's 200m breaststroke record

Denmark's Rikke Moller Pedersen broke the women's 200m breaststroke world record in the semi-finals of swimming's world championships on Thursday, the third record to fall this week in Barcelona. The 24-year-old Dane clocked a new record of 2mins 19.11sec, smashing 0.48s off Rebecca Soni's previous best time of 2:19.59 set by the American on August 2 last year at the London 2012 Olympics. Pedersen, the event's world short-course champion, will be racing for gold in the final on Friday. "I am incredibly happy, excited and looking forward to the final now," she beamed. Earlier this week Lithuania's Ruta Meilutyte broke the women's 100m breaststroke record and Katie Ledecky of the USA knocked nearly six seconds off the women's 1500m freestyle record. Source: AFP