The United States set two world records when its team won gold in the men's 4 x 100m freestyle relay finishing in 3:08.24 seconds smashing the previous world record by nearly four seconds.
The U.S. team led by Michael Phelps, who took his second gold of the games to add to the 400m individual medley title he won on Sunday, was followed by Garret Weber-Gale and Cullen Jones with anchor Jason Lezak storming home in a tense last 10-15m to win by a fingertip or just .008 seconds ahead of the French.
Phelps, who won six gold medals at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, added the world 200m butterfly record in the heats with a time of 1:53.7 to qualify for the semis and keep his dream of winning a record-breaking eight gold medals alive.
In the men's 100 m breaststroke Kitajima Kosuke of Japan took the gold setting a new world record in a time of 58:91 seconds.
And in the women's events, Italy's Federica Pellegrini set a world record during the 200m freestyle heats with a time of 1:55.45 beating the previous record set by Laure Manaudou of France.
Finally, Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry, who took the silver medal in the women's 400m individual medley final Sunday, broke the 100m backstroke world record with a time of 58:77 seconds as she swam to victory in the semifinals.
