WORLD RECORD HOLDER Ryan Lochte of the USA won the men’s 200 metre individual medley final – despite his goggles steaming up – at swimming’s world championships.
Lochte, the Olympic silver medallist, clocked 1min 54.98secs to win gold with 18-year-old Kosuke Hagino of Japan at 1.32s back and Brazil’s Thiago Pereira, who had led after the first two legs, finished 1.32 adrift in bronze.
Lochte, who collected his 13th ‘worlds’ gold dating back to Montreal in 2005, suffered from fog in his swimming goggles in the final length, but still managed to touch the wall first.
“My goggles fogged up in the last 50 so I couldn’t really see the rest of the field, I was just hoping I was in first and could get to the wall,” said the 28-year-old, who also won a worlds silver here with the USA in Sunday’s 4x100m relay.
Lochte took an extended break from swimming after winning five medals, including two golds, at the London 2012 and admitted he was pleased, given his lack of training this year.
“It feels good considering my training hasn’t really been there this year,” he said before swimming again on Thursday to qualify second fastest from the semi-finals for Friday’s 200m backstroke final.
This was Lochte’s second individual medal after finishing fourth in Tuesday’s 200m freestyle final, failing to defend the title he won at the 2011 championships in Shanghai.
