ETON, England (AP) -The United States women's eight broke its own world best Sunday in the world championships at Dorney Lake, the Olympic rowing venue for the 2012 London Games.

The American team of Brett Sickler, Megan Cooke, Anna Goodale, Lindsay Shoop, Anna Mickelson, Susan Francia, Caroline Lind, Caryn Davies and cox Mary Whipple finished the race in 5 minutes, 55.50 seconds.

The previous best time of 5:56.55 was set by the United States in the preliminary round at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Davies, Mickelson and Whipple were part of that crew, which went on to win silver.

"That was pretty damn hot," Goodale said. "It was up with the best of our races. Simply awesome. We had a good start and that's our specialty."

The Americans were 1.79 seconds ahead of second-place Germany and nearly five seconds ahead of third-place Australia.

It was the only gold won by the United States in the 14 Olympic classes contested at the championships, which were at Dorney Lake, the site of the 2012 London Olympic rowing events.

China, which will host the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, won two golds - including its first ever at the event.

Huang Zhongming, Wu Chongkui, Zhang Lin and Tian Jun lead from start to finish to win the men's lightweight fours in 5:49.43, beating crews from France and Ireland.

"We planned to row our best ever race," Huang said. "To get the first men's gold (for China) in the Olympic events was fantastic. We've gained a lot of honor for men's rowing in China."

China's other gold was won by Xu Dongxiang and Yan Shimin in the women's lightweight double sculls. The pair, which won in 6:55.12, set the world best in the event earlier this year.

Other winners included Mads Rasmussen and Rasmus Hansen of Denmark in the men's lightweight double sculls, Germany in the men's eight, Poland in the men's quadruple sculls and Russia in the women's quadruple sculls.