BARCELONA, Spain, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Denmark's Rikke Pederson set the third new world record of the World swimming championships currently being held in Barcelona when she swum a time of 2:19.11 in the fist semi-final of the women's 200 meter breast stroke on Thursday evening.

Pederson's swim beat the previous best of 2:19.59, set by American Rebecca Soni in the London Olympic Games.

The other records to be broken this week in Barcelona were by Ruta Meilutyte in the semi-final of the women's 100 meter breast- stoke, while 16 year-old Katie Ledecky knocked almost 6 seconds off the previous world best in the women's 1,500 meter final.