BEIJING — Former Auburn swimmer Kirsty Coventry broke the world record in the 100-meter backstroke semifinal Sunday night and two Auburn swimmers earned medals in the men’s 400-meter freestyle relay at the 2008 Olympics.

Coventry led wire-to-wire in the race, going out in 28.86, one-hundredth of a second faster than Natalie Coughlin’s first 50 meters in the first semifinal, and came back in 29.91 — the only swimmer in the event to come back in under 30 seconds.

Margaret Hoelzer, a native of Huntsville, Ala., also swam in the 100m backstroke semifinal, clocking a time of 59.84 to earn her way into today’s final. Hoelzer swam in the heat along with her former teammate and finished third behind Coventry to take sixth place overall in the event.

Fred Bousquet swam the third leg of the relay for the French team that finished second, just .08 seconds behind the world record mark set by the United States, who earned the second gold medal for Michael Phelps in his quest for eight.

Matt Targett swam the anchor for the bronze-winning Australian team in the race.

Mark Gangloff came up short in his bid for his first individual Olympic medal Sunday, as he finished eighth in the 100m breaststroke final with a time of 1:00.24.

For Coventry, the world record came just hours after she broke the Olympic record in the 100m back, touching in with a 59.00 and one night after she won the silver medal in the 400m individual medley, giving her the Auburn record for career Olympic medals with four.

The women’s 100m backstroke final is slated to start at 9:23 p.m. today.

Both Bousquet and Targett return to action Tuesday morning with preliminary rounds in the 100m freestyle.

Gangloff is expected to return to action Aug. 15 as part of the U.S. 400m medley relay team.