Three world best times were set in Paris on Saturday (10 February), on the second day of an international swimming meeting. But the athletes' achievements will not be ratified as world records -- because the pool used for the event was only half the usual olympic length.

SYNOPSIS: The most spectacular result came in the women's two hundred metre breaststroke, when the soviet Union's world record holder, Lina Kashushite -- leading here in lane four -- clipped almost four seconds off her previous best time.

Teammate, Sveta Varganova -- in lane five -- came in second, about three seconds behind the winning time of two minutes, 27.94 seconds. And Julia Bogdanova -- in lane two -- made it a clean sweep for the Soviet Union, taking third place.

The United States dominated the men's events. In the freestyle fifty metre event, Joe Bottom -- swimming in lane five-took an ear???lead. He was followed closely by teammate, Jack Babashoff. Their respective times were 22.72 seconds and 23.40 seconds. Marcello Guarducci of Italy took third place.

Despite spectacular performance in at least three events, none of the results will count as world records. The event was held in a twenty-five metre pool. Performances count as world records only if held in fifty-metre pools.