BBC SPORT | Other Sports | USA dominate in the pool

World record holders Michael Phelps and Natalie Coughlin both captured gold on the second day of the Pan Pacific swimming championships in Yokohama.

Phelps and his US compatriot Erik Vendt were first and second in the 400m individual medley final while Coughlin won 100m butterfly gold.

Amanda Beard made it a third gold medal when she triumphed in the 100m breaststroke.

Seventeen-year-old Phelps was pushed all the way by Vendt in his race and needed a championship of four minutes 12.48 seconds to win.

I planned to take it out fast in the first 50m and then take off in the last lap

Natalie Coughlin

Phelps was swimming at world record pace in the first half of the final but fell behind in the third breaststroke leg.

Vendt, a silver medalist in the event at the Sydney Olympics, was only four hundredths of a second behind Phelps at the last turn and finished second in 4:13.15.

"It was a really hard race," Phelps said. "That's because we went out real fast, so I'm happy with the result."

Japan's Takahiro Mori was third in 4:16.35.

Coughlin got the better of Jenny Thompson and Australia's world champion Petria Thomas in a thrilling finish to their race.

American teenage swimming sensation Michael Phelps
Phelps edged out his teammate Erik Vendt

The veteran Thompson, looked to have got the advantage when she turned for home in the lead.

But Coughlin finished strongly to beat Thomas by 23 hundredths of a second to give her a boost ahead of her best event, the 100m backstroke where she holds the world record.

"It was exactly how I wanted it to be in the final," said Coughlin. "I planned to take it out fast in the first 50m and then take off in the last lap."

Amanda Beard claimed victory over teammate Tara Kirk in the 100m breaststroke, finishing in a time of 1:08.22.


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