Cal's Franklin Helps U.S. Win Gold At World Swimming Championships

BARCELONA, Spain (CBS/AP) -- With Michael Phelps cheering from the stands and a big assist from a teammate, incoming Cal freshman Missy Franklin got off to a thrilling start in her own quest to win eight gold medals at the world swimming championships.

Megan Romano turned in a brilliant anchor leg to ensure Franklin of a gold in the women's 400-meter freestyle relay Sunday evening, chasing down the Australians in the last, furious strokes.

Coming off a starring role at the London Olympics, Franklin is now one-for-one in Barcelona.

Seven more to go.

"Oh, my gosh, it was amazing!" said Franklin, who clutched hands with teammate and Golden Bear alum Natalie Coughlin at the edge of the pool as they cheered on Romano. "We knew Megan could do it."

No swimmer has ever won eight golds at the world championships. Phelps came oh-so-close in 2007 when he won his first seven events but never got a chance in the eighth. The Americans were disqualified in the preliminaries of the 400 medley relay while Phelps was resting up to swim in the final.

The following year, of course, he won a record eight golds on a much bigger stage, the Beijing Olympics.

Franklin, now 18 and getting ready to go off to college at Berkeley, won four golds and a bronze in London. She just missed out on medals in the 100 and 200 free -- events she will again swim at the worlds along the 50 back, a non-Olympic event.

"I'm right where I was last summer, which gives me a lot of confidence going into the rest of the meet," Franklin said. "I think I am a little stronger in my backstrokes than my freestyles, but I've done a lot of work on my freestyle the past year so I really hope that it's going to be up there."

She was far behind on the opening leg after a blistering start by Australia's Cate Campbell. Coughlin and Shannon Vreeland chipped away at the Aussie lead before Romano finished the job. She edged Coutts by 0.12 seconds with a winning time of 3:32.43. The Netherlands finished another 3 seconds behind for the bronze.

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