STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN - MICHAEL Phelps, swim your heart out. When it comes to text messaging, no one can beat My Svensson - at least in her native Sweden.

The 17-year-old student needed only 61 seconds to write a 141-character SMS message rich in crisp words and snappy punctuation to claim the Swedish text messaging championship, sponsored by a Swedish telecoms operator.

'I was very tense in the finals when I realised how much money I could win,' said Ms My, who plans to use her 25,000 krona (S$5,500) prize for a holiday in France, the Dagens Nyheter newspaper reported on Saturday.

Ms My - who out-thumbed her nearest rival by seven seconds - nevertheless failed to surpass her personal best of 50 seconds, achieved during the semi-finals. -- AFP