Australia's Magnussen wins 100 metres freestyle gold

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Australian James Magnussen won a second consecutive gold in the men's 100 metres freestyle at the world championships in Barcelona on Thursday.

Australia's Magnussen adjusts his goggles as he prepares for his men's 100m freestyle semi-final during the World Swimming Championships in Barcelona

The man known as "the missile" clocked 47.71 seconds, with Jimmy Feigen of the United States taking silver in 47.82 and his compatriot Nathan Adrian, the Olympic champion, bronze in 47.84.

The only men to have previously won two straight 100 freestyle world titles are American Matt Biondi, Alexander Popov of Russia and Italian Filippo Magnini.

Adrian pipped Magnussen into second place by one hundredth of a second to win Olympic gold in London last year.

(Reporting by Iain Rogers; Editing by John Mehaffey)