Barrowman Sets Record in Breast Stroke : Swimming: American who finished fourth in ’88 Olympics settles score in World Championship event in Australia.

American Mike Barrowman, who finished fourth in a 1988 Olympics race he had been heavily favored to win, settled the score today with a world-record performance in the men’s 200-meter breast stroke in the World Swimming Championships.

Bulked up on a fast-food lunch, the 22-year-old from Potomac, Md., chopped .30 seconds off his own world mark, leading the fastest field ever assembled home in 2 minutes, 11.23 seconds.

The U.S. men’s 400 freestyle relay team also won a gold medal in meet-record time. The quartet--Tom Jager of Tijeras, N.M.; Brent Lang of Portland, Ore; Doug Gjertsen of Austin, Tex., and Matt Biondi of Castro Valley, Calif.--finished in 3:17.15, 2.52 seconds faster than the old meet mark set by the United States in 1986.

Germany was second in 3:18.88, with the Soviet Union third in 3:18.97.

Before the breast-stroke competition started, Barrowman said: “I’ve got a debt from Seoul to settle with three others, because they beat me good. This is the best field in the whole championships. My one advantage is that these people beat me badly when it counted.”

This time Barrowman was the one to make the others pay.

He led from start to finish, hitting the first 100 turn in 1:03.19--.68 seconds ahead of Norbert Rozsa, the world record-holder in the 100 breast stroke. Rozsa, from Hungary, pulled close over the final half but never had enough to catch Barrowman.

Rozsa finished second in 2:12.08, with former world record-holder Nick Gilligham of Britain third in 2:13.12.

The new world champion, who conned a bus driver into driving him to a nearby McDonald’s for a lunch of “a Big Mac, a quarter-pounder, all that kind of stuff,” said his swim had been all bad.

“It was all willpower,” he said.

Joerg Hoffmann got Germany’s first individual gold medal when he won the 400 freestyle in a meet-record 3:48.04. Daniel Jorgensen of San Diego finished eighth, almost five seconds off his personal best. Top-ranked Artur Wojdat of Poland, the leading qualifier, finished third.

China, which has been disappointing up until now, finished 1-2 in the women’s 100 butterfly, a tight race with just .28 seconds separating the first four finishers. Wian Hong, the 1986 Asian Games champion, beat teammate Wang Xiaohong by .13 seconds, at 59.68. Crissy Ahmann-Leighton of Tucson, Ariz., was fourth at 59.96.

Linley Frame gave Australia its second swimming gold medal when she won the women’s 100 breast stroke in 1:08.81. Elena Volkova, who caught Frame to win the 200 breast stroke, was third in 1:09.66.

Gao Min of China became the first winner of two individual gold medals at the championships when she took the women’s 3-meter springboard diving by less than 15 points over Irina Lashko of the Soviet Union.

“I’m very excited,” said Gao, the 1-meter springboard winner who has been bothered by shoulder injuries. “It’s been a very difficult championships for me, but I was able to get the medals because of the help of my doctors and coaches.”

China won all three women’s diving events, with Fu Mingxia taking the platform.

Janet Evans also was on course for her second gold medal. The American world record-holder and Olympic champion from Placentia, Calif., qualified first for the women’s 800 freestyle at 8:33.19, ahead of Australian rival Julie McDonald. The final of the 800, the longest women’s pool race, is set for Saturday.