Shanghai – Ryan Lochte set the first world record at the 14th swimming world championships in Shanghai on Thursday and there was joy for host nation China with gold and bronze in the 200m women's butterfly.
But the swim of the evening belonged to Lochte, who won the 200m individual medley in a time of 1 minute 54.00 seconds - beating his own previous best mark by 0.14.
Lochte took gold ahead of his great rival Michael Phelps, whom the American has now beaten twice in individual finals in Shanghai, having earlier beaten his compatriot to 200m freestyle gold. Phelps finished in a 1:54.16.
The 14-time Olympic champion Phelps admitted that he was disappointed not to have won. “That one frustrated me more than anything. I thought I was going to get that one but it is what it is.”
Lochte, meanwhile, celebrated by pumping his fist in the air.
“I know there will be a battle between me and Michael and, this time I am better,” he said.
Hungarian Laszlo Cseh came through strongly on the final metres to take the bronze medal with a time of 1:57.69.
An incredible 43 world records were broken at the last world championships in Rome two years ago, but since the governing body FINA has banned performance-enhancing high-tech suits, records have all but dried up and Lochte last season was the only swimmer to record an individual world record - albeit in a 25m pool.
Lochte's IM record was the first on the fifth day of competition in the Oriental Sports Centre in Shanghai.
Lochte then returned to the pool shortly afterwards to win his heat in the men's 200m backstroke semifinals, winning in a time of 1:55.65 to record the fastest time of the 16 swimmers.
Japan's Irie Ryosuke was second-fastest, followed by Tyler Clary of America and China's Zhang Fenglin.
In the women's 50m breaststroke, Anastasia Zueva won gold in a time of 27.79, ahead of Japan's Aya Terakawa, who finished 0.14
behind the Russian.
The bronze medal went to American Melissa Franklin in a time of 28.01.
Zueva said she did not think she was going to get the gold. “It is not an Olympic event. So I did not concentrate on it. I felt really tired in the last meters of the distance, but I really wanted to win.”
There was joy for local fans as Jiao Liuyang took the gold medal in the women's 200m butterfly in a time of 2:05.55. It was the first gold at a major global competition for the 21-year-old.
Briton's Ellen Gandy also secured her first-ever world championship medal by finishing second in a time of 2:05.59, while world record holder Liu Zige gave the hosts even more to cheer about when she took bronze in 2:05.90.
The defending champion Jessicah Schipper of Australia, who also won in 2007, finished last.
Jiao said she thought that the pressure was on Liu ahead of the race. “She is the world record holder. I know that my sprint in the last 100m is better than other swimmers.”
In the men's 100m freestyle event, James Magnussen became the first Australian to win the world title when he won with a strong finish ahead of Canadian Brent Hayden. Magnussen finished with a time of 47.63, while Hayden swam a 47.95.
“It's such an amazing thing for me. It sounds amazing to be called a world champion,” he said.
Frenchman William Meynard took the bronze by the narrowest of margins when he edged out Brazilian 50m freestyle world champion Cesar Cielo.
Meynard recorded a 48.00, while Cielo touched in 48.01.
In the final medal event of the evening, the US led from the start to take the women's 4x200m freestyle relay. Melissa Franklin, Dagny Knutson, Kathryn Hoff and Allison Schmidt finished in a time of 7:46.14.
Australia held off a strong challenge from China at the end to win silver in 7:47.42, while China took he bronze in 7:47.66.
Earlier, Francesca Halsall led the field into Friday's final in the women's 100m freestyle, with a time of 53.48 seconds, beating Dutch swimmer Femke Heemskerk by 0.19 seconds. Australian Alicia Coutts had the third-fastest time in 53.78.
In the women's 200m breaststroke semi-finals, Rebecca Soni proved too strong for the rest of the field as she advanced to the final with the fastest time of 21.03 - more than two seconds faster than Yuliya Efimova, who swam a 23.66.
Defending champion Annamay Pierse went through to the final with the fourth-fastest time.
Four-time Olympic champion Kosuke Kitajima had the fastest time in the semi-finals of the men's 200m breaststroke, winning his heat in 2:08.81.
The second-fastest time belonged to Hungarian Daniel Gyurta, while Germany's Christian vom Lehm was third-fastest. They swam 2:08.92 and 2:09.44 respectively. – Sapa-dpa