Ian Thorpe, swimmer supreme, became the most prolific gold medallist in the history of the world championships when he hoisted his tally to nine with a third successive victory in the 400 metres freestyle on Sunday.

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

But not even Thorpe, 20, can win everything and his evening ended in defeat for defending champions Australia in the men's 4x100 metres freestyle relay.

The great Alexander Popov led Russia to gold and Frenchman Frederick Bousquet had the audacity to overtake Thorpe and squeeze the Australians out of the medals by a tantalising 0.01 seconds.

Thorpe, however, was not to be denied in the 400 freestyle, in which he has held sway since January 1998 when, at 15, he became the youngest men's world swimming champion.

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 clear in three minutes 42.58 seconds, thus becoming the first swimmer to win the same individual event at three world championships.

SLOWER TIME

"Tracey (coach Tracey Menzies) told me to concentrate on the ABC, and I did, and make sure I stayed in control of the race," Thorpe said. "I'm very pleased with the result but it's just the start of a long meet."

Hackett, as so often in the past, had to settle for the silver, touching in 3:45.17. "All in all it's not a bad start for me. With the first gold going to Australia it's still a great start."

Romania's Dragos Coman took the bronze in 3:46.87, ahead of Olympic silver medallist Massimiliano Rosolino.

Thorpe's time was well outside the 3:40.08 world record he set at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester a year ago and he was later to be outpaced by the explosive Bousquet as well as by Popov and American Jason Lezak on the anchor leg of the relay.

Popov, 32 next November and three times an individual world champion in the 1990s, became a relay world gold medallist for the first time, taking over just in front of Lezak to lead Russia home in a championship record 3:14.06.

"I've been dreaming about this since 1992," said Popov, whose teams finished second behind the Americans in two relays at the Olympics in this Spanish city in that year and again in Atlanta in 1996, as well as twice at the 1994 world championships in Rome.

The Americans, who lost the title to Australia in 2001 after winning it in all eight preceding editions of these championships, had to settle for silver in 3:14.80, with France third and Thorpe's Australia fourth.

SPEEDY THOMPSON

But the Americans celebrated a great win in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay as Jenny Thompson swam a superb anchor leg to haul them from third to first and relegate defending champions Germany and Australia to silver and bronze.

Thompson, enjoying a great comeback, came through with by far the fastest split of 53.44 seconds to bring back the title the Americans had won in 1998. The U.S. won in 3:38.09 but had to sing their own national anthem after the sound system failed.

Germany's Hannah Stockbauer, a double world champion in 2001, added another gold medal to her collection with a fine win in the women's 400 metres freestyle.

Stockbauer, the fastest heat qualifier and bronze medallist at the distance at the last world championships, led from the start, with 17-year-old Hungarian Eva Risztov and American Olympic silver medallist Diana Munz in close pursuit.

Risztov, who took four silver medals at last year's European championships in Berlin, stepped up her challenge in the final 100 metres but Stockbauer, the reigning 800 and 1500 freestyle world champion, was more than equal to it and surged away to win in 4:06.75.

Risztov took the silver in 4:07.24 and Munz the bronze in 4:07.67.