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MANCHESTER, England, April 11. RYAN Lochte of the United States dipped under 1:52 to break the world record in the men's 200 IM at the FINA World Short Course Championships.
Lochte clocked a fabulous time of 1:51.56 the shatter Laszlo Cseh's global standard of 1:52.99 set back in December.
"It was a great race. I wouldn't have done it without these guys pushing me," Lochte told meet organizers. "I knew they were gonna be fast. I just wanted to stay with them till the breast and free."
Here are the comparative splits between Lochte and Cseh:
Lochte: 24.79, 52.26, 1:24.82, 1:51.56
Cseh: 24.14, 51.64, 1:25.11, 1:52.99
Additionally, Lochte broke the American and meet records that he set back in 2006 at the Shanghai meet. In Shanghai, he clocked a time of 1:53.31 on April 7. That time had stood as the world record, but has progressed twice since then. Brazil's Thiago Pereira first broke it with a 1:53.14 during the Berlin World Cup stop before Cseh came over the top with the 1:52.99 from this past December.
The win gave Lochte his 12th career world short course medal to sit sixth all-time. Michael Klim (15), Matt Welsh (14), James Hickman (14), Lars Frolander (14) and Mark Foster (13) are the only swimmers ahead of Lochte on the career medal chart.
"It was a great race," Lochte told meet organizers. "I wouldn't have done it without these guys pushing me."
Great Britain's Liam Tancock finished second with a time of 1:53.10, while teammate James Goddard took third in 1:55.15. Both Tancock and Goddard dipped under Goddard's national record of 1:55.51 set during prelims.