Ryan Lochte of the United States competes in the men’s 200 meters backstroke heat during the FINA Short Course Swimming World Championships at the Sinan Erdem Arena in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
ISTANBUL — Ryan Lochte won two more races at the short-course world championships in Turkey on Sunday, finishing the event with six golds and one silver. The result matched his medal tally when the biennial championships were held in Dubai in 2010.
Lochte won the 100-meter individual medley, a day after he broke the world record in the event. The five-time Olympic champion finished in 51.21 seconds, ahead of Kenneth To of Australia and George Bovell III of Trinidad and Tobago.
To started well and led at the halfway mark. He held off Lochte over the breaststroke leg, but the American accelerated in the freestyle to move ahead.
Lochte then joined the U.S. team of Matthew Grevers, Kevin Cordes and Thomas Shields to win the 4×100-meter medley relay in 3:21.03, defeating Russia in second place and Australia in third. Lochte’s time of 45.22 seconds was the fastest on the team.
He also won silver in the 200 backstroke. Earlier Sunday, he said he was starting to feel tired.
“All the races I have done last week are starting to catch up,” he said. “But it is the last day of the tournament and there is always something left in the tank.”
Radoslaw Kawecki of Poland beat Lochte and said he had deployed the same tactics as his rival.
“We both wanted to wait until the final 50-75 meters and start pushing really hard. I am happy I came out on top and proved that I was better prepared than Lochte,” Kawecki said, adding it felt “great to be better than a world record holder.”
Lochte broke the world record in the 100 IM with a time of 50.71 in the semifinals at Sinan Erdem Arena on Saturday, eclipsing the mark set by Peter Mankoc of Slovenia in December 2009. On Friday, the American broke the world record in the 200 IM.