GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador -- East Germany's Cornelia Sirch shattered the world record Saturday night in the women's 200-meter backstroke to conclude the 10-day run of the World Swimming Championships.
Sirch, 15, won the gold medal in a time of 2 minutes, 9.91 seconds to break the record of 2:11.77 set by another East German, Rica Reinisch, in 1980. Australia's Georgina Parkes won the silver medal in 2:14.98 and Romania's Carmen Bunaciu finished third in 2:15.50.
The U.S. team of Rick Carey, Steve Lundquist, Jeff Tribble and Rowdy Gaines also established a world mark in the men's 400-meter medley relay with a time of 3:40.84, which erased the old record of 3:44.22 set by another American team in 1976.
The Soviet Union finished second with a mark of 3:42.86 and West Germany took the bronze medal in 3:44.78.
The U.S. won the most medals with 34. East Germany was second with 25 and the Soviets won 16. The Americans took 13 gold medals and the East Germans 12, all in swimming.
Vladimir Salnikov of the Soviet Union, the owner of the world record in the men's 1,500-meter freestyle, erased his own meet record in the event. Salnikov raced to a 15:02.77 finish to win the gold medal and eclipse the record of 15:03.99 he set in 1978.
His teammate, Sviatoslav Semonov, finished second with a mark of 15:05.54. Yugoslavia's Darjan Petric took the bronze with a clocking of 15:10.20.
Soviet Alexander Siderenko also eclipsed a meet record in the men's 200-meter individual medley with a time of 2:03.30. The old record was held by Graham Smith at 2:03.49. Italy's Giovanni Franceschi finished with a time of 2:04.65.
Siderenko credited his win to a decision to concentrate solely on this race since the 1980 Olympics.
'This is the race I have been concentrating on since the Olympics, so I am very happy to win,' he said.
East Germany's Ines Geissler also scored a major upset, beating Mary T. Meagher of Louisville, Ky., in the women's 200-meter butterfly. Geissler was clocked in 2:08.66 to win the gold medal over Meagher, the world record-holder who finished with a time of 2:09.76. Heike Dahne of East Germany won the bronze in 2:10.29.
Geissler said she could have shot for a better time but concentrated rather on claiming the gold medal.
'This was a tactical race,' she said. 'I think that the swimmers were thinking about winning and not swimming best times.'
Greg Louganis of El Cajon, Calif., won his second gold medal in the men's diving competition. Louganis took the platform diving event over Vlademir Alemik of the Soviet Union. Bruce Kimball of Ann Arbor, Mich., won the bronze medal.
The Soviets and Hungary tied 7-7 in the water polo match for the gold medal, but the Russians were declared the winners because of their tournament record, and Hungary settled for the silver medal. West Germany beat Holland 5-3 to claim the bronze.
