British swimmer Gemma Spofforth won the 100 metres backstroke world title in a world record of 58.12 seconds here on Tuesday. Spofforth beat home Russian Anastasia Zueva (58.18sec) while Australia's Emily Seebohm took bronze in 58.88sec. The Briton broke the previous mark of 58.48 set by Zueva in the semi-finals on Monday. Spofforth was second at the turn behind Zueva, but she surged past the Russian to get the victory by six-hundredths of a second. And she revealed that it was her improvement over the first half of the course that had been the key to victory. 'I took it out a little bit faster than yesterday (in the semi-final) and I suppose that's where my speed came up and I took it home a little bit faster so I'm very happy with the result,' she said. 'She (Zueva) always takes it out a lot faster than I do but I think that's where her speed is and my strength is the back end so I was hoping to beat her on the back end.' This victory went some way to making up for the disappointment of finishing fourth in the Olympic final in Beijing last year. 'I'm a lot stronger swimmer than last year but it's been a lot of hard work and dedication,' she added. 'I was fourth (in Beijing) 0.04sec away (from a medal) last year but this is a lot better, it's been determination all the way through this year.' 