Australia scooped two gold medals on the opening day of the FINA World Short Course (25m) Swimming Championships in Shanghai yesterday.

But China's Qi Hui managed to claw one back for the home team when she touched the wall first in the women's 400m individual medley.

Overall, the night's action was essentially an Australia-China affair, particularly in the women's events.

In the women's 200m butterfly event, Australia's Jessica Schipper led from the start to finish first in a championship-record time of 2:05:11. This was Schipper's first world short course title.

Italy's Francesca Segat took the silver, finishing a hair's breath behind Schipper, while China's Yang Yu was stretched full length but finished about two seconds behind the Aussie to take the bronze.

The 400m individual medley race provides the drama for the evening. Qi, 21, started off poorly and had to play catch-up for the first 200 meters in the butterfly and backstroke laps.

But roared on by a supportive home crowd, Qi, a former breaststroke world record holder, finally found her rhythm and shot into the lead in the last 100 meters, clinching the gold in 4:34:28, ahead of Italian Alessia Filippi and Anastasia Ivanenko of Russia respectively.

"Yes, I won the race but I could have done better," Qi said.

"I only had three weeks to prepare because my health hasn't been good. I could feel my strength draining in the second half of the race, but I will be looking for even better results in the later events."

Qi's golden answer to Schipper's earlier victory turned out to be a prelude to another duel between the two countries.

China had its eye on the second gold of the night in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay. Yang Yu sprinted ahead in the second last lap, but the team couldn't hold on to their lead. Australia's Libby Lenton reiterated Australia's long-held domination in the pool with a stunning come-from-behind last-lap victory.

Lenton clocked one of the fastest relay splits -- 1:53:78 in a sensational anchor leg -- which helped the Aussies to win in a time of 7:46:96, the second fastest time ever and just 0.66 outside China's 2002 world mark.

In the closest finish of the night, the Aussie girls won by 0.11 of a second ahead of China, with the US coming in third.

In the men's events, South Africa's Ryk Neethling prevailed in the 200m freestyle with a time of 1:43:51. Italy took the honors in the 4 x 100m freestyle relay.
 
(Shanghai Daily April 6, 2006)