World Swimming Championships opened yesterday in Perth, Australia.

Stephen Fahy and Stephen Troake were both in action during the 200-metre freestyle heats and both turned in times just shy of their personal bests, recorded last July in Cuba.

Fahy was third in his heat with a time of 2:01.22 while Troake was also third with a 2:03.64 clocking. Neither swimmer -- nor any of those in their heats -- qualified for the final or consolation final.

Michael Klim of Australia had the fastest time in the heats (1:47.96) and bettered that slightly with a gold-medal swim of 1:47:41 in the final.

Despite being on record pace with 50 metres to go, he fell just short of Italian Giorgio Lamberti's 1:46.69 world standard, set in 1989.

American Josh Davis took the consolation final in 1:49.66; Olympic champion Danyon Loader was seventh in 1:51.84.

Meanwhile, controversy over the Chinese swimmers -- after one of them was caught with 13 vials of human growth hormone in her luggage -- continues to surround the competition.

"It is only when you can see first-hand these Chinese women and compare them with other female swimmers, that you realise just how huge and abnormal they look,'' said Bermuda coach Richard Goodwin.

Both Bermuda competitors are also scheduled to swim in the 100 metres freestyle while Fahy will compete in the 100m butterfly and 200m individual medley and Troake in the 100m backstroke and 50m freestyle.

Thompson strikes gold -- see Page 19.

STEPHEN FAHY narrowly missed a personal best as he finished third in his 200 metres freestyle heat at the World Championships in Perth, Australia, yesterday.