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Denver Teen Sets Short-Course World Record In 200 Backstroke

BERLIN (AP/CBS4) -- American teenager Missy Franklin has set a short-course world record in the 200 backstroke at a World Cup meet in Berlin.

The 16-year-old Franklin finished in 2 minutes, 0.03 seconds, shaving 0.15 seconds off the mark set by Shiho Sakai of Japan in 2009.

"It's such a great pool, such a great time," Franklin said.

Franklin won three world championship titles in Shanghai this summer.

It's the first woman's individual record in a short-course or long-course pool since high-tech bodysuits were banned in 2010.

"It's just incredible," Franklin said.

Franklin is on October's cover of Swimming World Magazine. She was named as a finalist for the Women's Sport Foundation Individual Sportswoman of the Year.

At her first world championships this past summer in Shanghai, the Regis Jesuit High School junior set an American record in the 200 meter backstroke.

"I went in there with absolutely no expectations. I said that I worked my butt off for the past year. I trained as hard as I possibly could have. There's nothing more that I could have done," Franklin said.

Nothing more -- except to think about her experience.

"I got out of that race and was like, 'That was awesome.' Just to be able to kind of recap while I'm swimming to help motivate me that much more," she said.

These days her schedule centers around school and then the pool.

"So many practices when you just kind of walk in and, 'Oh my gosh, really? Do I have to do this?' she said. "But one of the things that I think about is that I always remind myself that I don't have to do this. If I really don't want to go to practice, I don't have to -- no one is forcing me. But that kind of makes you think that I do want to go to practice. I really do want to get better. I want to take that extra step."

Missy is fun and friendly, but she's serious about answering one question -- what's her wildest dream?

"To make the Olympic team; that's my biggest goal, my biggest dream."

She'll get her shot next summer in Omaha at her first Olympic trials.

"Being able to walk out with my USA cap on and the flag on the side with the 'Franklin' on it."

LINK: Swimming World Magazine

(TM and © Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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