Descenza breaks women's 200m fly record

US swimmer Mary Descenza broke the women's 200m butterfly world record in the heats at the world swimming championships on Wednesday.

Descenza clocked 2min 04.14sec to lower the previous mark of 2:04.18 set by China's Liu Zige in winning Olympic gold on August 14 last year in Beijing.

"Oh my God I didn't even think I was going that fast," Descenza said. "It was an awesome time. I was so excited when I saw that time. I didn't even know it was a world record until it flashed up."

Descenza, who called her failure to make the US team for the Beijing Olympics the biggest disappointment of her career, said swims like this helped make up for it.

"It's moments like this I live for," she said.

"I obviously didn't have that in my plan, but I'll take it," added Descenza, a Tyr-sponsored swimmer who swam in the all-polyurethane Jaked with the logo blacked out.

Liu settled for the 12th-fastest time of the morning, 2:07.55.

Defending world champion and Beijing Olympic bronze medallist Jessicah Schipper of Australia posted the second-quickest time of the morning with a 2:05.50. Jiao Liuyang, who took silver behind compatriot Liu in Beijing, was eighth-fastest overall with a time of 2:07.01.

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