Americans Neil Walker, Lenny Krayzelburg and Jenny Thompson highlighted the FINA World Cup short course swimming meet by setting three world records in Maryland on Thursday.

Walker, 23, broke the men's 50 meters backstroke world short course record with a time of 24.12 seconds, bettering the old record of 24.13 clocked by two men, Thomas Rupprath of Germany on November 12, 1998, and Matthew Welsch of Australia on February 9 of this year.

Krayzelburg set a world record in the men's 200 meters backstroke with a time of one minute 52.47 seconds, slicing the previous record set by Martin Lopez-Zubero of Spain on October 4, 1991 by 0.04 second.

Inspired by Krayzelburg, Thompson bettered her own world record in the 50 meters butterfly by swimming a time of 26.00 seconds. Her old mark was 26.05 seconds, set on February 12,1998.

Thompson won three gold medals at the event, also finishing first in the 100 meters freestyle and 100 meters individual medley.

The meet at the University of Maryland was the first of 12 World Cup events this season. The next stop in the series is Edmonton this weekend.