Australian swimmers Stephanie Rice and Meagen Nay have both won gold on the third day of competition at the Santa Clara International in California, with the triple Olympic gold medallist from Beijing dominating in her pet event the 400m IM, and Commonwealth champion Nay swimming a world-class time in the 200m backstroke.

The current world record holder for the 400m IM and four-time Australian champion, Rice won in a fast 4:36.52 moving her into the top four in the world this year, and shaving a further two seconds from her winning time in the Australian Championships in April.

Backing up from bronze in the 100m butterfly and racing off the back of three weeks of altitude training with her St Peters Western squad in Mexico, Rice was too strong for Madeline DiRado from the US in 4:40.90 and Jana Mangimelli (4:41.23).

Following on from Rice’s gold to open Australia’s account on day three of racing, teammate and training partner Meagen Nay picked up her first international medal of the year, winning the 200m backstroke in an impressive and personal best time of 2:07.16.

A gold medallist in the event at the Delhi Commonwealth Games last year, Nay’s time was the second fastest of all-time by an Australian, just 0.3 of a second off a national record, and was almost a second quicker than her time at the Australian Championships in April.

Taking a third of a second off her previous personal best, the swim now means Australia is ranked both one and two in the 200m backstroke this year, with Belinda Hocking’s 2:06.88 the fastest time in the world for 2011.

“It was quite surprising to swim that fast, but I’m really happy with it,” said Nay.

“I really enjoyed training at altitude over the last few weeks and this is a good step for me towards worlds and the Olympics next year. It’s also great to have Australia ranked first and second in the 200 back.”

With Rice and Nay picking up gold for Australia, Bronte Barratt and Ryan Napoleon continued the good form for the visitors in the 200m freestyle both taking silver in solid performances.

For the 22-year-old Barratt, who only joined Bohl’s squad this season having previously been at the AIS, she had to contest with US teammates Allison Schmitt and Melissa Franklin, with Schmidt taking the win in 1:57.31.  Barratt hit the wall in a solid 1:57.48 with Franklin third in 1:57.77.

Swimming against equally talented opposition, Napoleon had to contend with Korean dynamo Taehwan Park and a meet record swim of 1:45.92.  Adding to his two bronze medals from the 400 and 800m freestyle, Napoleon finished the 200 free in 1:48.71 while Kenrick Monk was fifth overall in 1:49.09.

Backing up from a fourth place in the 400m IM (4:21.10), 17-year-old Mitch Larkin showed experience beyond his years to win silver in the 200m backstroke behind a rampaging Michael Phelps for his first medal at an international open meet. While the 14-time Olympic gold medallist won the race by more than three seconds in 1:57.05, Larkin was able to hold on for silver in 2:00.30 from Matthew Swanston from the US in 2:00.54.

Swimming Australia