LONDON >> Former University of Hawaii swimmer Melanie Schlanger of Australia qualified second in the women’s 100-meter freestyle semifinals Wednesday, winning her semifinal heat in 53.38 seconds.

Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands set an Olympic record to lead the way in the semis, while defending champion Britta Steffen of Germany failed to advance.

American teenager Missy Franklin was third in 53.59.

Kromowidjojo clocked 53.05 seconds, 0.07 faster than Steffen’s swim at the 2008 Beijing Games in a now-banned bodysuit.

Steffen was only 12th.

The top eight finishers qualified for Thursday’s final in swimming’s signature event.

Nathan Adrian, a 23-year-old largely overshadowed by American stars such as Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, made a name for himself by winning the 100-meter Olympic freestyle. He lunged to the wall to edge James “The Missile” Magnussen by one-hundredth of a second — the slighest margin possible — and again deny Australia its first individual swimming gold of the London Games.

Adrian pounded the water, then put his hands over his eyes while dangling over the lane rope, as if he couldn’t believe the “1” beside his name. He finished in 47.52 seconds. Magnussen hung at the end of the pool, staring straight ahead at the wall in disbelief, the wall he got to just a fraction of a second too late.

The Aussies took another bitter defeat in the final event of the evening, again to their American rivals as Schmitt chased down Alicia Coutts for gold in the 4×200 freestyle relay.

Schmitt dived in the water about a half-second behind but passed Coutts on their first return lap and won going away in 7 minutes, 42.92 seconds. The Australians settled for another silver in 7:44.41, while France took the bronze.

Schmitt is turning into one of the biggest American stars of the games, picking up her second gold to go along with a silver and a bronze. Franklin also claimed her second gold swimming the leadoff leg, and Dana Vollmer now has two golds in London. Shannon Vreeland rounded out the gold medal-winning quartet.

Daniel Gyurta set a world record in the 200 breaststroke, needing every bit of it to hold off Michael Jamieson’s furious bid for Britain’s first gold at the pool. The Hungarian touched in 2 minutes, 7.28 seconds, shaving 0.03 off the previous mark set by Christian Sprenger of Australia at the 2009 world championships in a now-banned bodysuit.

Rebecca Soni showed plenty of speed in the women’s 200 breast — and it wasn’t even the final. Swimming a semifinal heat, the American touched in 2:20.00 to break yet another of the bodysuit records, a time of 2:20.12 set by Canada’s Annamay Pierse at the ’09 worlds, the fifth world mark to fall at the London Games and further proof it’s still possible to go fast — really fast — in textile suits.