Ukraine's Mykhailo Romanchuk won the men's 400m freestyle gold in a record time ©Taipei 2017

Two Universiade records were broken on the opening day of swimming competition at Taipei 2017 here today.

The men’s 400 metres freestyle final was the first to be contested and Ukraine's Mykhailo Romanchuk breezed to the gold medal in a record time of 3min 45.96sec.

He beat the previous record of 3:46.72 set by Premyslaw Stanczyk in Belgrade in 2009.

Reigning champion Jay Lelliott of Great Britain was unable to defend his crown, as he came second in 3:48.88 while the United States' Grant Shoults completed the podium in 3:49.03.

Another best time was soon to follow as Japan's Yui Ohashi obliterated the record in the women’s 400m individual medley.

She strolled to victory in a time of 4:34.40, to beat the previous best mark set by Ukraine’s Yana Klochkova of 4:37.50 in Bangkok in 2007.

Allyson McHugh of the US took silver in 4:40.22.

Bronze went to South Korea's Kim Seoyeong, who posted a time of 4:41.52.

The Canadian team in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay secured their country’s first gold medal of Taipei 2017.

It was impossible to separate the top five throughout and just when Russia look poised to win, Canada came streaming down lane one to snatch victory in 3:39.21.

Russia took second in 3:39.39 with the US coming in third in 3:40.09.

Japan's Yui Ohashi won the women’s 400m individual medley ©Taipei 2017
Japan's Yui Ohashi won the women’s 400m individual medley ©Taipei 2017

The US sealed their first gold medal of Taipei 2017 after winning the men's 4x100m freestyle relay.

They started a little slowly, but once they found their rhythm, the Americans were impossible to stop and touched the wall in 3:14.01.

Italy claimed the silver in 3:15.24 while Russia completed the podium in 3:15.78.

Earlier today, Mexico's Dolores Hernandez won the first gold medal of Taipei 2017.

She won the women's 1m springboard diving gold after producing a total score of 278.70.

Un Gyong-choe of North Korea finished with the silver medal on 271.35 while Germany's Louisa Stawczynski completes the top three on 268.15.

Russia's Roman Izmailov and Nikita Shleikher secured the men's 10m synchronised diving gold medal.

The duo finished on a total of 411.99 to finish in first place.

North Korea's Hyon Il-myong and Ri Hyon-ju took silver on 410.70 while South Korea's Woo Haram and Kim Yeongnam completed the podium on 391.26.