Thorpe and Krayzelburg break world records at swim World Cup

Monday, February 7th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

BERLIN (AP) -- American Lenny Krayzelburg and Australian teen-ager Ian Thorpe and shook off a drug-testing controversy and a near-boycott to set world records at a short course World Cup swim meet Sunday. The 17-year-old Thorpe, the center of drug-taking allegations last week, sped across the pool at Europa sportpark arena, covering200 meters in 1 minute, 41.10 seconds.

That shattered the teen sensation's own record of 1:42.54, set in Hong Kong Jan. 18, and led to loud applause. "I wanted to swim a good time, but that it's a world record surprised me," said Thorpe, adding of the allegations, "I've never gotten so much applause after a competition. That moved me deeply. It shows me that people are behind me and believe in me."

Krayzelburg lowered his own 200-meter backstroke record by .005 seconds to 1:52.43 after recording a 100-meter backstroke record on Saturday of 51.28 seconds. He also narrowly missed a third world record Sunday, falling short of the 50-meter backstroke mark held by Australian rival Matt Welsh. The 24-year-old American was timed in 24.17, short of Welsh's 24.11 and yelled, "Bad finish, bad finish."

The records followed a controversy after Saturday's races, centered around Thorpe and sparked by the random drug testing of five Australian swimmers. Australian coach Don Talbot threatened to withdraw his team for Sunday's races, complaining that swimmers including Thorpe had not been provided with tamperproof containers during the testing.

Krayzelburg was among several other swimmers who complained, saying the sample could be popped open again and manipulated. Thematter was finally settled when Berlin police agreed to seal the samples. German coach Manfred Thiesmann had triggered the drug-taking allegations last week with reported comments that other swimmers were skeptical about Thorpe's performances. Talbot said he wasn't about to leave samples in Berlin because the allegations stemmed from a German coach. "There's no chance of us doing that," Talbot said.