Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice set a new world record in the women's 400 meters individual medley in four minutes 31.46 seconds on Saturday.

Rice, a bronze medalist at last year's Melbourne world championships in the event, shaved 1.43 seconds off American Katie Hoff's previous record of 4:32.89 on the opening night of the Australian Olympic swimming trials

She also sliced almost six seconds off her best time to make her favourite for the event at this year's Beijing Olympics.

"I saw my time and I saw 3:31 because 3:37 was my best time but I did not think I would go that fast," she said.

Rice's boyfriend Eamon Sullivan broke the world record in the 50 meters freestyle last month, clocking 21.56 seconds to eclipse Russian Alexander Popov's 2000 mark of 21.64 by 0.08 seconds.

(Xinhua News Agency, March 23, 2008)