Balfour added world silver in Melbourne to her European gold

The Edinburgh swimmer, 23, took 200m breaststroke silver behind Australian Olympic champion Leisel Jones.

Balfour moved up behind Jones at the 100m mark and, as Jones pulled away from the field, the Briton hung on to silver in two minutes 25.94 seconds.

In a dead heat for second American Megan Jendrick also took silver.

Jones, who also won 100m breaststroke gold on Tuesday, became the first swimmer to win double breaststroke gold at two straight world championships.

606: DEBATE Your reactions to Balfour's medal

"I could feel I was kind of sticking with her (Jones) until about 100m and then she just took off," Balfour told Five Live.

"I was trying to keep my reserve and concentrate on what I was doing, rather than panicking.

"I knew if I swam to my best I should get a silver medal and I'm really pleased with that."

American Michael Phelps collected his fifth gold medal of the championships as he led the men's 4x200m freestyle relay team to the title in world-record time.

The American quartet of Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Klete Keller and Peter Vanderkaay clocked seven minutes 03.24 seconds to wipe 1.42secs off the previous mark, set by Australia in 2001.

Great Britain were unlucky to finish out of the medals after a battling performance saw them set a new British record of 7:11.28.

Phelps gave the America team a huge lead in the 4x200m freestyle

David Carry, Robbie Renwick, Simon Burnett and Ross Davenport had spent much of the race in third but were pipped by Canada, who took bronze behind Australia.

Phelps, 21, is attempting to capture a record eight gold medal haul in Melbourne but earlier, Ian Crocker laid down a warning to Phelps in the 100m butterfly semi-finals.

The world-record holder went through to Saturday's final as the fastest qualifier in 51.42 seconds while Phelps was fourth fastest.

Crocker is the two-time defending world champion and only man ever to break the 51-second barrier, but Phelps beat him for Olympic gold in Athens.

Ryan Lochte delivered a world-record breaking performance as he ended Aaron Peirsol's dominance in the 200m backstroke.

Peirsol, the Olympic champion, had been aiming for a fourth world crown but was edged out in the final metres by his American team-mate.

Lochte touched for the finish in one minute 54.32 seconds to slice 0.12 seconds off Peirsol's previous world mark.

Peirsol collected silver ahead of Austrian Markus Rogan. Britain's James Goddard finished sixth in 1:58.88 with Gregor Tait eighth.

Australian Libby Lenton collected her third gold medal of the championships with victory in the 100m freestyle.

I didn't expect to make the final so to get in there is amazing GB backstroker Elizabeth Simmonds

The 22-year-old chased down Marleen Veldhuis, who had led at the turn, and pushed on to touch home in 53.40 seconds.

Veldhuis of the Netherlands took second with German world record holder Britta Steffen third.

Lenton has already performed well in Melbourne, collecting 100m butterfly gold and leading off the victorious 4x100m freestyle relay team.

Japan's Kosuke Kitajima reclaimed the 200m breaststroke title after American world champion Brendan Hansen withdrew with a virus.

He won in two minutes 09.80 seconds ahead of Australian Brenton Rickard and Italy's Loris Facci.

Elizabeth Simmonds, the youngest member of Britain's team, also set a personal best of two minutes 11.20 seconds to advance to Saturday's 200m backstroke final.

"I didn't expect to make the final so to get in there is amazing," said the 16-year-old.

But Simmonds' compatriot Mel Marshall failed to qualify from the heats.

And Britain's Rebecca Cooke and Rebecca Adlington also missed out on the 800m freestyle final after finishing ninth and 10th respectively while Todd Cooper bowed out in the 100m butterfly.

Ros Brett finished 30th in the 50m butterfly in her final race before her retirement.

Liam Tancock won Britain's first medal in the pool on Tuesday when he took 100m backstroke bronze. Cassie Patten had set the British team on their way with silver in the 10km open water event.