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ROME, Italy, August 2. THE United States' Ryan Lochte put together a solid swim to win the men's 400 IM at the FINA World Championships.
With world record holder Michael Phelps essentially retiring from the event after the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Lochte snatched the gold medal with a time of 4:07.01 for the victory. The swim is the eighth-fastest ever, but off his personal best of 4:06.08 set at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials.
"Like any other race, I am going to step up and race," Lochte said. "We definitely did that one for the USA. The breaststroke came through for the first 50, but the second 50 hurt pretty bad. I think I went out a bit too fast."
The United States' Tyler Clary overtook Hungary's Laszlo Cseh, 4:07.31 to 4:07.37, to claim silver and relegate Cseh to bronze. The times completed the top 10 of all time as the ninth and 10th best ever. Neither is a personal best for the swimmers as Clary has a 4:06.96 to his credit, and Cseh has gone 4:06.16.
Brazil's Thiago Pereira (4:08.86), Hungary's Gergo Kis (4:10.40), Israel's Gal Nevo (4:12.33), Italy's Luca Marin (4:13.63) and Great Britain's Thomas Haffield (4:13.63) completed the championship swims.