Teen girls rule pool buoyed by Phelps

Missy Franklin claimed a historic six golds at swimming's world championships while Ruta Meilutyte and Katie Ledecky each broke two world records as teenage girls ruled the pool in Barcelona.
US starlet Franklin earned her six in the 100 and 200m backstroke finals, the 200m freestyle, plus she picked up relay gold medals in the 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle finals, then yesterday's 4x100m medley.
It made her the first woman to win six titles at a world championships, her haul matching Ian Thorpe of Australia at the 2001 world championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
It's a mark which has only been bettered by Michael Phelps' seven golds at Melbourne in 2007.

"It is an honour to be the first woman to reach this landmark," said Franklin, who won five golds at the London Olympics and set the 200m backstroke record.
The 18-year-old American won six of the eight events she entered in the stand-out performance in Barcelona while Ledecky of the USA and Lithuania's Meilutyte, who are both sixteen, finished with two world records each.

A total of five world records were broken in Barcelona -- all by women.
Meilutyte took both the 50m and 100m breaststroke records, while Ledecky shaved nearly six seconds off the 1500m record, then lowered the 800m mark on Saturday while Denmark's Rikke Moller Pedersen, 24 also set a new 200m breaststroke record.

Ledecky said Phelps's mark can still be felt on the sport, 12 months after the swim legend walked away after last year's Olympics.
"There are a lot of great female swimmers right now," said Ledecky as Phelps retired last year after a career which included 18 Olympic golds and 26 world titles.
"Michael left a great legacy and I think a lot of people have been inspired by him, both male and female.
"The men are trying to chase his records, which are really hard to reach and it is the women's time right now.