After claiming silver in both disciplines at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Haughey has now climbed to the top of the tree courtesy of two superb performances in the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

The 24-year-old broke the world record in the 200m freestyle on the opening day of the short-course event before setting a new championship record in the 100m freestyle.

Haughey triumphed in 50.98 seconds as she became the first swimmer to win over both freestyle distances at a single edition of the World Championships.

Sweden’s Sarah Sjöström came second in 51.31 as Abbey Weitzeil of the United States took bronze in 51.64.

Haughey also broke the first three championship records on the night with Li Bingjie of China and The Netherlands grabbing the others.

Li was in unstoppable form as she cruised to an emphatic victory in the women's 800m freestyle final.

The Chinese swimmer produced the fastest time in the heats and made a strong start here as she began to create a gap between herself and her rivals.

Anastasiya Kirpichnikova of the Russian Swimming Federation (RSF) occupied second spot after the opening 200m, followed by Isabel Gose of Germany.

Li was in a class of her own as she pulled further clear, while Kirpichnikova, Gose and Italy's Simona Quadarella battled for the other medals.

The gap continued to increase as Li secured gold in a time of 8min 02.90sec - breaking the championship record of 8:03.41 set by Mirela Belmonte of Spain in 2014.

Kirpichnikova claimed silver in 8:06.44, while Quadarella held off the challenge of Gose to secure bronze in 8:07.99.

Thom de Boer produced a superb final leg as The Netherlands snatched mixed 4x50m medley relay gold.

The lead changed several times with the RSF moving out in front before Belarus moved ahead courtesy of strong swims from Ilya Shymanovich and Anastasiya Shkurdai.

But Belarus failed to get on the podium as the Dutch team came charging back and the US and Italy both challenged for top spot.

De Boer finished his leg in a time of 20.30 as The Netherlands won in 1:36.28 to break the championship record.

Weitzeil helped the US achieve silver in 1:37.04 as Silvia di Pietro sealed bronze for Italy in 1:37.29.

It was also a great night in the pool for the US as they notched two gold medals.

Nic Fink bagged the first of those when he captured the men's 200m breaststroke crown.

Starting in lane one, Fink burst out of the blocks as he led over the first 100m ahead of Mikhail Dorinov of the RSF and compatriot Will Licon.

Licon then took over with Erik Persson of Sweden and Arno Kamminga of The Netherlands making strong moves in the final 50m.

But Fink responded superbly as he struck gold in 2:02.38 with Kamminga claiming silver in 2:02.42 and Licon earning bronze in 2:02.84.

Rhyan White secured the United States second gold medal of the evening with success in the women's 200m backstroke.

She set the early pace before facing a strong challenge from Canada's Kylie Masse.

The pair were neck and neck going into the final 50m before White emerged victorious in 2:01.58.

Masse had to settle for silver in 2:02.07 as Isabelle Stadden of the US finished third in 2:02.20.

Italy's Matteo Rivolta led from start to finish to win the men's 100m butterfly title.

The 30-year-old former European champion got off to a flying start with Simon Bucher of Austria second and Andrei Minakov of the RSF also in contention in lanes seven and eight respectively at the second turn.

The Italian maintained his form to win in 48.87 as South Africa's Chad le Clos came storming back to clinch silver in 49.04, with the bronze medal going to Minakov who clocked 49.21.

Russian athletes are competing as the RSF in Abu Dhabi, as part of sanctions imposed by the World Anti-Doping Agency against Russia in December 2018 in connection with the manipulation of data from the Moscow Laboratory.

Competition is scheduled to continue tomorrow.