Rome, July 28 (DPA) Superstar Michael Phelps crashed to a rare defeat Tuesday when he was beaten in the final of the men's 200m freestyle at the world swimming championship in Rome by Germany's Paul Biedermann, who broke the American's world record in the process.

The 22-year-old Biedermann, who on Sunday broke the world record in winning the 400m freestyle, posted a time of 1:42.00 minutes, shaving nearly a second off Phelps' world record that stood at 1:42.92. Phelps swam a 1:43.22 in the final for the silver medal.

Biedermann said that he was fighting back the pain. 'But I am over-joyed. It was a really great race. I knew that Michael took a lot from me on the change-overs, that is why my only chance was to beat him swimming and I managed to do that.'

The bronze medal went to Russian Danila Izotov, who finished 1:43.90.

Phelps said that he was not too disappointed.

'Theoretically that was a pretty good swim for me based on my best times after having taken six months off.

'I mean I am not happy but I know I did not train much this year, but for right now I will take it. But I am not very pleased.'

In the next final Briton Gemma Spofforth broke the world record in the women's 100m backstroke, when she took the gold medal in a time of 58.