BARCELONA, July 20: Ian Thorpe achieved an historic treble and took his world gold medal tally to a record nine on Sunday when he won the 400 metres freestyle title for the third time in a row at the world swimming championships.

The 20-year-old Australian, who had shared the record aggregate of eight golds with East German Kornelia Ender, claimed the two feats in a single swim which also brought him the first gold medal in the Palau Sant Jordi pool.

Fellow Australian Grant Hackett, silver medallist behind Thorpe in 1998 and 2001, led narrowly for the first 150 metres as the big man in the black bodysuit bided his time to take charge.

By the halfway mark Thorpe had hit the front and in the second half he cut loose to touch two body-lengths ahead of his rival in three minutes 42.58 seconds, becoming the first swimmer to win the same individual event at three world championships.

Hackett, as so often in the past, had to settle for the silver, touching in 3:45.17.

Dragos Coman of Romania took the bronze in 3:46.87, comfortably ahead of Olympic silver medallist Massimiliano Rosolino (3:47.44). Rosolino’s Italian team mate Emiliano Brembilla, bronze medallist in 2001, failed to make the final.

Thorpe’s time was well outside the 3:40.08 world record he set at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester a year ago.

Thorpe became the youngest men’s world champion ever when he won the 400 metres freestyle in Perth in 1998.

Results of finals:

Men’s 400 metres freestyle: 1. Ian Thorpe (Australia) 3 minutes 42.58 seconds; 2. Grant Hackett (Australia) 3:45.17; 3. Dragos Coman (Romania) 3:46.87; 4. Massimiliano Rosolino (Italy) 3:47.44; 5. Klete Keller (US) 3:47.70; 6. Yuri Prilukov (Russia) 3:48.50; 7. Chad Carvin (US) 3:50.36; 8. Graeme Smith (Britain) 3:51.83.

Women’s 400 metres freestyle: 1. Hannah Stockbauer (Germany) 4:06.75; 2. Eva Risztov (Hungary) 4:07.24; 3. Diana Munz (US) 4:07.67; 4. Elka Graham (Australia) 4:08.60; 5. Brittany Reimer (Canada) 4:09.34; 6. Lindsay Benko (US) 4:09.82; 7. Simona Paduraru (Romania) 4:13.62;

8. Chen Hua (China) 4:13.75.

Women’s 4x100 metres freestyle relay: 1. United States 3:38.09 (Natalie Coughlin, Lindsay Benko, Rhiannon Jeffrey, Jenny Thompson); 2. Germany 3:38.73 (Petra Dallmann, Katrin Meibner, Antje Buschschulte, Sandra Voelker); 3. Australia 3:38.83 (Lisbeth Lenton, Elka Graham, Jodie Henry, Alice Mills); 4. Netherlands 3:41.04; 5. Britain 3:41.17; 6. Sweden 3:41.36; 7. China 3:41.46; 8. Italy 3:48.18.

Men’s 4x100 metres freestyle relay: 1. Russia 3:14.06 (Andrei Kapralov, Ivan Usov, Denis Pimankov, Alexander Popov); 2. United States 3:14.80 (Scott Tucker, Neil Walker, Ryan Wochomurka, Jason Lezak); 3. France 3:15.66 (Romain Barnier, Julien Sicot, Fabien Gilot, Frederick Bousquet); 4. Australia 3:15.67; 5. Germany 3:15.98; 6. Italy 3:15.99; 7. Canada 3:16.83; 8. South Africa 3:18.79.—Reuters