The 24-year-old clocked a time of 3 min 12.10sec at the Serbian capital's Milan Gale Muskatirovic venue, bettering the previous mark set by compatriot Liu Jiao at the 2011 World Championships by 0.8 seconds.

Russia’s Elena Lopatina finished second in 3:12.86, while fellow countrywoman Ekaterina Mikhailushkina came third in 3:13.14.

There was also a world record broken in the mixed 4x100m bi-fins relay as Russia prevailed in 2:58.04.

Ukraine finished second in 3:00.62, while Hungary came third in 3:03.61

The first final of the evening saw Mikhailushkina claim the women’s 100m surface gold medal in 38.28.

She beat nearest challenger Paula Aguirre of Colombia by a margin of 0.59 seconds.

Aguirre's compatriot Grace Fernández Castillo was a further 0.08 seconds behind in third.

The one other women’s event held today was the 100m bi-fins with Hungary’s Petra Senánszky triumphing in 46.33.

Russia’s Maria Patlasova took the silver medal in 47.04, while compatriot Vitalina Simonova came away with the bronze in 47.12.

Hungary also tasted victory in the men’s 400m surface thanks to Ádám Bukor’s time of 2:58.22.

Italy’s Stefano Figini finished in the runners-up spot in 3:00.45, beating Ukraine’s Oleksii Zakharov to the silver medal by a margin of 0.25 seconds.

Today’s other male winners were Belarus' Aliaksandr Biazmen in the 100m surface and Ukraine’s Danylo Kolodiazhnyi in the 100m bi-fins.

Biazmen came out on top in 35.03 followed by Russia's Dmitrii Zhurman in 35.34 and Germany's Malte Striegler in 35.54.

Kolodiazhnyi, meanwhile, posted an unrivalled time of 41.79 with Russia’s Aleksey Fedkin second in 41.93 and Belarus’ Dzmitry Gavrilov third in 42.15.

Action in Belgrade is due to continue tomorrow.