Dutchman van den Hoogenband had pulled out of the morning's heats due to illness.

But it was a shock for all at the Olympic champion's home pool when the 24-year-old Frenchman touched home at the end of his semi-final at the European Championships.

He had carved nearly a quarter of a second from the 47.84 sec world mark the Dutchman set in the semi-finals of the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

'This is a surprise for me. I wanted to do my best today and then go really fast tomorrow (in the final),' said Bernard, who hit the wall in 47.60.

'It is extra special to do this in the Netherlands.'

Over in Australia, Stephanie Rice smashed the world record in the 400m individual medley on the opening night of the Olympic trials yesterday, setting a new mark of four minutes, 31.46 seconds.

Rice shaved 1.43 seconds off American Katie Hoff's previous record of 4:32.89.

Brisbane schoolgirl Emily Seebohm also claimed the world record in the non-Olympic 50m backstroke. The 15-year-old touched the wall in 27.95 sec to shave 0.05 of a second off American Hayley McGregory's mark.

But it is Bernard's record that stands out. He improved his previous best by a vast 0.52 sec and made himself a marked man for Beijing.

'I knew I had it in me; I knew it would happen. I just didn't know when. I've been working extremely hard for years for this. For 18 months, I've known I could swim that fast.'

Reuters