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MANCHESTER, England, April 13. THE world records kept falling as Austria's Markus Rogan crushed Ryan Lochte's world record in the men's 200 back at the FINA World Short Course Championships with an upset triumph over the American.
Rogan touched in 1:47.84, while Lochte placed second in 1:47.91. Both efforts smashed the global standard of 1:49.05 coming into the race. Lochte had set the record back at the 2006 FINA World Short Course Championships.
Here are the comparative splits:
Rogan: 26.40, 54.43, 1:21.10, 1:47.84
Lochte (2008): 26.13, 53.93, 1:21.00, 1:47.91
Lochte (2006): 26.10, 53.74, 1:21.54, 1;49.05
Rogan had actually been as far back as fourth at the 50-meter mark, and had trailed Lochte at the 150-meter mark. He had way too much left in the tank in the final 50 however with a 26.74 compared to Lochte's 26.91.
"The truth is I don't know what I did differently," Rogan told meet organizers. "I didn't think I stood a chance and Gregor Tait and I were laughing and joking before the race that we would just go out there and relax and it obviously paid off."
The silver medal gave Lochte his 13th career top-three placing at the FINA World Short Course Championships. He tied Mark Foster for fifth. Only Michael Klim (15), Matt Welsh (14), James Hickman (14) and Lars Frolander (14) own more.
Russia's Stanislav Donets placed third in 1:50.45, just missing the national record of 1:49.98 held by Arkady Vyatchanin since 2006.
The win by Rogan took the title away from the Americans for the first time in three meets as Aaron Peirsol went back-to-back in 2002 and 2004, while Lochte won the crown in 2006. Overall, the U.S. has won the event four times with Tripp Schwenk earning the first title in 1993.