Dec. 19, 2009

MANCHESTER, England-- Stanford's Julia Smit (Mt. Sinai, NY) tallied her second world record in as many days, breaking the world's mark in the 200-meter individual medley shortcourse on Saturday at the annual Duel in the Pool.

Smit's time of 2:04.60, broke the nine day old record of Hungary's Evelyn Verraszto (2:04.64), set on December 10 at the Shortcourse Championships in Turkey. The mark also broke America's 16-year old record by Allison Wagner (2:07.79) in 1993.

Smit touched the wall ahead of American teammates Ariana Kukors (2:07.87) and Katie Hoff (2:08.37) on Saturday.

“I really wanted to just have fun in the race. I’ve always loved the 200m IM and I’m glad my teammates and I all went 1, 2 and 3,” said Smit. “I’m actually in the middle of hard training right now and I wasn’t sure what to expect. I really enjoy the Duel meet atmosphere especially since I am so used to it with college swimming.”

On Friday, Smit broke the 400-meter individual medley world record by nearly two seconds and the American record by nearly six, with a time of 4:21.04.

The event will be broadcast by NBC on December 27 from 2-4 p.m. ET. The event will be packaged into a two-hour special with the most exciting swims and moments from the 2009 Mutual of Omaha Duel in the Pool.

Smit will swim her final season for No. 2 Stanford this spring, boasting eight school-records individually and in relays. The 19-time All-American is the defending NCAA Champion in both the 200-yard and 400-yard IM's, setting American records in each last year.

Smit, along with fellow Stanford Olympic teammate, Elaine Breeden, will be featured on NCAA on Campus, a monthly TV show on CBS College Sports, every Monday at 5:30 p.m. PT in January. Check local listings for other replays as well.