RIJEKA, Croatia � France set a world record in the men's 4x50-meter freestyle relay at the European short-course championships, breaking the mark it set in an earlier heat.

Frederick Bousquet, Alain Bernard, Fabien Gilot and Amaury Leveaux won the final in 1 minute, 20.77 seconds today to smash their mark of 1:22.38.

A Swedish team held the previous record, finishing in 1:24.19 at the European short-course championship in Debrecen, Hungary, a year ago.

Amaury Leveaux swam the final instead of Antoine Galavtine, who was part of the team in the heats.

Italy finished second and Croatia was third.