Hansen good as gold again

MELBOURNE -- Brendan Hansen walked away with another gold medal in his rivalry with Kosuke Kitajima. What the American really wants, though, will have to wait until Beijing.

Hansen defended his world championship in the 100-meter breaststroke last night, touching first in 59.80 seconds, with Kitajima of Japan right behind in 59.96.

Michael Phelps was back in the pool for his first individual event, easily advancing to the 200-meter freestyle final tonight. But the American was second quickest behind leading qualifier Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands.

Hoogenband was under Ian Thorpe's world-record pace through 100 meters before falling off and finishing in 1 minute 46.33 seconds. Phelps's time was 1:46.75 in the other semifinal.

"I think I can go a bit harder in the final, so we will see tomorrow if it's good enough," Van den Hoogenband said.

After two days of swimming, the United States and Australia were tied with six medals each. The Americans had three golds to the Aussies' two.

In the breaststroke, it was virtually a two-man race between Hansen, the world record holder, and Kitajima, who swept the breaststroke events at the 2004 Athens Olympics. "It's just motivation for the Olympics," said Hansen after last night's win. "That's where the big races are."

Libby Lenton and Jess Schipper gave Australia a 1-2 finish in the women's 100 butterfly final, with American Natalie Coughlin earning the bronze.

American Katie Hoff won her second straight world title in the 200 individual medley. She finished in 2:10.13, lowering her meet record from 2005.