Rome - Germany's Britta Steffen on Friday broke the world record for the women's 100m freestyle for the second time in five days.

The 25-year-old won the gold medal at the world championships in a time of 55.07, beating the old best mark of 52.22, which she established on Sunday as the opening swimmer of the German women's 4x100m freestyle relay swimmer.

Briton's Fran Halsall took the silver medal with a time of 55.87, while Libby Trickett of Australia won the bronze medal with a time of 55.93.(dpa)