American teenager Missy Franklin became the first woman to win six golds at a single world championships when she helped the United States to victory in the 4x100m medley relay yesterday. Franklin, 18, swam the opening backstroke leg and the US triumph followed her titles this week in the 100m and 200m backstroke, 200m freestyle and the 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relays. Franklin's sixth gold is one more than the previous record she jointly held with compatriot Tracy Caulkins and Australia's Libby Trickett. The only other woman to win six golds at a world championships or Olympics is East German Kristin Otto at the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul. The US clocked 3 minutes 53.23 seconds, with Australia 1.99 seconds back in second and Russia 3.24s back in third. Franklin gave the US a slight lead and her teammates - Jessica Hardy, Dana Vollmer and Megan Romano - made it look easy from there. It was a busy week for Franklin. "It hurt really, really bad, but now we're all done and we're all super excited," said Franklin, who will start her first year of college at UC Berkeley later this year. "I think I'm going to take my time off until I get to Berkeley, so I think that gives me about two-and-a-half weeks. We're all pretty excited about it." In another relay, France were handed a shock victory in the men's 4x100m medley when the gold-medal-favourite Americans were disqualified. The US touched first in 3:30.06 before the stadium announcer said they had been disqualified for what was described as "an early exchange". The Americans were denied what would have been a 12th triumph in the event in 15 championships since the inaugural edition in Belgrade in 1973. France clocked 3:31.51, with Australia winning silver in 3:31.64 and Japan bronze in 3:32.26. Fran Halsall, 23, finally claimed Great Britain's first medal of the championships when she finished third in the 50m freestyle in 24.30. Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands won, edging Australia's Cate Campbell by 0.09s in a time of 24.05. Ruta Meilutyte, 16 and a double world-record holder, said she was happy with silver in the women's 50m breaststroke final as Russia's Yuliya Efimova won gold in 29.52, with Meilutyte, who broke the Russian's world record on Saturday, only 0.07s back. Jessica Hardy of the USA was 0.28s adrift in an American record for the bronze. "I am really happy to have the world record and the silver," said Meilutyte, who said she will use the defeat as motivation for the next world championships in Kazan, Russia, in 2015 and at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. "It is a little disappointing when the race is so close, but I am learning from it, I have had an amazing week, so onwards and upwards." She trains in England but competes for Lithuania. "I am still pretty young and I'm still learning," Meilutyte said. "She was just better than me today. That is sport. "I am going to train even harder. So hopefully, I can get her back in the next world championships. "I think the long-term swimming goal is the Rio Olympics, every competition is just preparation for that. "I've still got school and hopefully, I can balance that with swimming. Hopefully, I can have a few more events going into Rio. "I will talk to my coach and we'll decide." Japan's Daiya Seto held off American Chase Kalisz to win the 400m individual medley. Seto touched in 4:08.69 to take an event long dominated by US stars Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte. Phelps is retired and Lochte has dropped the gruelling race, at least for this season. Kalisz, 19, who trains at Phelps's club in Baltimore, was far back after the butterfly and backstroke legs. But he began to close on the breaststroke and nearly caught Seto on a freestyle dash to the finish. He settled for silver in 4:09.22, while the bronze went to Brazil's Thiago Pereira in 4:09.48. "I'm very excited about that," Kalisz said. "The front half isn't really my strong part, so it's just staying right there and keeping myself mentally in check, knowing that these guys are better backstroke and butterflyers than me." Camille Lacourt of France won the men's 50m backstroke in 24.42. Follow us
