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Australia's Ian Thorpe makes history in Barcelona, winning his ninth world championship gold medal in the 400m freestyle

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Thorpe (left) claims another gold when he ousts his great rival Pieter van den Hoogenband in the 200m freestyle

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Thorpe (second right) takes his third gold of the championships when he anchors Australia to 4x200m freestyle relay gold

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Michael Phelps destroys his own world record in the 200m butterfly semi-finals before cruising to gold in the final

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Australia's Matt Welsh celebrates breaking the men's 50 metres butterfly world record on his way to gold

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Germany's Antje Buschschulte triumphs in a thrilling 100m backstroke ahead of Britain's Katy Sexton in second

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Hannah Stockbauer of Germany storms to the gold medal and sets a new European record in the women's 1,500m freestyle

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Compatriot Leisel Jones also breaks a world record in the semi-final of the women's 100m breaststroke

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But Jones only finishes third in the final as Xuejuan Luo of China (pictured) hangs on for gold in the 100m breaststroke

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Japan's Kosuke Kitajima wins the men's 100m breaststroke in a world-record time of 59.78 seconds

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James Gibson finishes third to claim Britain's first medal of the championship

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Ukrainian Yana Klochkova wins gold in the 200m individual medley