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A stunning world record by Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry was the highlight of some very fast swimming on day two of the Missouri Grand Prix Meet. Coventry wiped away one of the sport's longest standing records in the women's 200m backstroke, setting a time of 2:06.37 to erase the old mark set by Hungary's Krisztina Egerszegi some 20 years ago.

The challenge of morning finals was not the problem some commentators had predicted with many swimmers repeating or going faster than their heat times the previous evening. This included Warrender's trio of swimmers who are representing Scotland at this meet. Billy Purnell raced to 7th place in the 'B' final of the men's 200m backstroke in 2:07.47, Ewan Johnston claimed 3rd in the 'C' final of the men's 400m freestyle with 4:01.87 with Lewis Smith improving on his heat time to take 3rd place in the 'B' final of the same event in 3:59.50. Lewis also added a 7th place finish in the 'B' final of the 200m butterfly securing his second 2:03 swim of the meet (2:03.96). Ewan was also part of the Scottish 4 x 100 freestyle relay, swimming the third leg in an excellent time of 52.66. The quartet of Ewan, Robbie Renwick, Stuart Houston and Todd Cooper finished in 3rd place but unfortunately were disqualified for a marginally early takeover on the last leg.

The world record from Kirsty Coventry was not the only top drawer swim of the day. America's female answer to Michael Phelps goes by the name of Katie Hoff, and Hoff continued to stake her claim for multiple medals in Beijing by setting a new American record in the 400m freestyle of 4:02.20, a swim which was also just 0.07 away from Laure Manaudou's world record. Hoff also won the 100m freestyle in 54.28 ahead of event specialists Kara Lynn-Joyce and Natalie Coughlin. Phelps himself stormed to an easy 200m butterfly win in 1:53 while Aaron Piersol did likewise in the 200m backstroke in 1:55. In the men's 400 freestyle Erik Vendt came within a fraction of the American record setting a 3 second lifetime best in 3:44.5.

The three Warrender boys were back in action in the evening for the next round of heat swims. In the men's 400m I.M., Lewis Smith found himself in the lane next to the world's best swimmer Michael Phelps. It was no surprise that world record holder Phelps won the heat in a comfortable 4:18 but Smith also swam a well controlled race placing third in the heat in 4:25.51 just behind Robert Margalis to qualify in 5th place for tomorrow's 'A' final, where he will face a stellar looking field that includes Phelps, Margalis, world silver medalist Ryan Lochte, 4:12 swimmer Pat Mellors, former world short course record holder, Brazil's Thiago Pereira, and Hungary's Tamas Kerekjarto. Billy Purnell placed 25th overall in 4:40.75. Earlier, Ewan Johnston continued his great meet with another career best swim on the 200m freestyle, swimming 1:54.63 for 29th overall.