Swimming: Penny Heyns registered yet one more world record in the history books on Thursday when she lowered her own 200 metres breaststroke mark in the semi-finals at the Pan Pacific championships at Sydney's Olympic pool.

The South African made her latest rewrite of history look easy as she glided home in two minutes 24.42 seconds to clip 0.09 seconds of her previous record. Heyns's record was her sixth world mark in the past six weeks and the eighth set by competitors at this week's championships.

Men's Hockey: As the Ireland senior squad head off tomorrow for the European Nations Cup finals in Padova, the newest group of under-21s meet their US counterparts in three exploratory matches at Blaris, Lisburn, over the weekend. This is the first step towards the European Junior Championship (A division) in Malaga next August. Coach George Blackwood brings in a large contingent of under-18s to join the survivors of the team which won the B division title in Padova a year ago.