Federica Pellegrini of Italy celebrates setting a world record in her women's 200 meters freestyle heat at the National Aquatics Center during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 11, 2008. [Agencies]

BEIJING--Italian swimmer Federica Pellegrini broke the world record for women's 200m freestyle in the heats here on Monday.

Pellegrini said she did not really mean to set a world record in the heats, however she felt good in the pool.

"No, no, no, no, no. I didn't want to set a record tonight. But I felt good in the water and I said alright let's go," Pellegrini said.

The 20-year-old freestyler finished the first 50 meters only at the fourth place and then managed a surprising surpass at the second leg to a record-breaking finish at 1:55.45, 0.07 seconds faster than the previous record held by French veteran Laure Manaudou.

"It's great revenge after what happened this morning (coming fifth in the Women's 400m Freestyle)," the Italian said.