Chinese swimmers Luo Xuejuan and Li Wei broke the short-course world record for the women's 50 meters breaststroke on the second and final day of a World Cup meeting Monday in Shanghai.

The two swimmers tied for first place with a time of 30.56 seconds, beating the previous world mark of 30.60 set by South Africa's Penny Heyns in September 1999.

"I didn't expect myself to break the world record," said Li, who improved her personal best by almost one second.

"I'm now in better form compared with one week ago at the Ninth National Games," Li added.

(People's Daily December 5, 2001)