updated 4:51 a.m. ET Aug. 15, 2004

SCHINIAS, Greece - The U.S. women’s and men’s eights team both set world bests in the Olympic rowing competition Sunday along with Australian pair Sally Newmarch and Amber Halliday.

In the women’s eights competition, the American crew set a time of 5:56.55, beating the previous best time set by Romania in 1999 by 0.47 seconds.

The American team consisted of Kate Johnson, Samantha Magee, Megan Dirkmaat, Alison Cox, Caryn Davies, Laurel Korholz, Anna Mickelson, Lianne Nelson and Mary Whipple.

The men’s eights also set a world best time in their heat, completing the course in a time of 5:19.85.

Competing in the women’s lightweight double sculls heats, the Australians completed the 2,000-meter course in 6 minutes, 49.9 seconds to break a record that had stood for nine years.

The previous world best of 6:50.63 was set by the Danish pair of Berit Christoffersen and Lene Andersson on home water in Copenhagen in 1995.

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