DUBAI: Ryan Lochte was already being labeled the top swimmer of 2010, ahead of even Michael Phelps. Now he's got another title to boast about. Lochte snapped swimming's world record drought Thursday, setting the first individual mark since high-tech bodysuits were outlawed at the start of the year. The American won the 400m individual medley at the short-course world championships in 3 minutes, 55.50 seconds, smashing the previous record set by Laszlo Cseh of Hungary by nearly two seconds. “World records are records and they're meant to be broken and I guess it's only a matter of time,” Lochte said. “I guess I'm lucky that mine happened sooner than” anyone else. Never one to celebrate wildly, and exhausted after one of the sport's most grueling races, Lochte simply smiled when he looked up at the scoreboard and saw the result, then pumped his fist. “I'm not one of those people that will celebrate or let it get to me,” the laid-back Floridian said. “Whatever happened during that race, as soon as I touched the wall it's over and I've got to get ready for my next race.” China's women set a world record in the 800m freestyle relay Wednesday, and Russia set the men's record of 6:49.04 in the 800m free relay later Thursday. But no individual world marks - none at all in the long-course pool - had been set before Lochte's swim. By contrast, in 2008 and 2009, nearly every record in the sport was broken multiple times. Two other Americans also came away with golds Thursday. Natalie Coughlin held off two Chinese challengers to win the 100 backstroke in a meet record 56.08 seconds and Rebecca Soni beat Leiston Pickett of Australia by 0.01 seconds in the 50 breaststroke. Also, Stanislav Donets of Russia won the men's 100 back in a championship record 49.07. Camille Lacourt of France finished 0.73 behind and held on to his silver medal after a protest by his team cleared him of a disqualification for swimming underwater too long. Olympic champion Cesar Cielo of Brazil dominated the 50 free semifinals, clocking a meet record 20.61 - 0.49 ahead of Marco Orsi of Italy and 0.56 in front of Frederick Bousquet of France. Olympic 100m champion Alain Bernard of France qualified in a tie for sixth, 0.65 back, while American sprinter Nathan Adrian finished 11th and failed to make the final. In the 400 IM, Olympic 1,500m champion Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia finished a distant 1.90 seconds behind Lochte, and Tyler Clary of the United States was third, 2.06 back. Lochte trailed Clary at the race's midpoint, but was able to stay underwater longer than his teammate and took the lead on the butterfly leg. He was still 0.03 behind the world record mark at 300m and turned on the speed in freestyle to beat all his competitors by more than a bodylength and usher in a new era in swimming. Lochte opened the meet with a victory in the 200m freestyle Wednesday. A couple hours after his world record, he swam a strong second leg in the 800m relay, helping the Americans take silver, just 0.54 seconds behind Russia's record swim.
