Ryan Lochte wins 4th gold medal of swim worlds; 2 more records fall, bringing total to 41

Ryan Lochte wins 4th gold medal of worlds in Rome

ROME — Ryan Lochte won his fourth gold medal of the world championships, and two more world records fell Sunday on the final night of the fastest meet in swimming history.

Taking advantage of Michael Phelps’ absence, Lochte added the 400-meter individual medley title to his medal haul at the Foro Italico. Lochte also won the 200 IM along with two relay golds, in addition to taking bronze in the 200 backstroke.

Lochte was far off Phelps’ world record in the 400 IM, touching first in 4 minutes, 7.01 seconds. Phelps won gold at Beijing in 4:03.84, but decided to scale back his program heading into what will be his final Olympics.

The Americans still went 1-2 even without Phelps. Tyler Clary came on strong in the freestyle to beat Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh, taking silver in 4:07.31. Cseh settled for bronze at 4:07.37.

Phelps was going for his fifth gold of the meet in the final event, the 400 medley relay.

Britain’s Liam Tancock broke his own world record to win the 50 backstroke. Tancock touched in 24.04, eclipsing the mark of 24.08 he set the previous day in the semifinals. Japan’s Junya Koga claimed silver in 24.24, while South Africa’s Gerhard Zandberg earned bronze at 24.34.

Russia’s Yuliya Efimova followed with the 41st record of the meet, edging American Rebecca Soni in the 50 breaststroke.

Efimova won in 30.09, breaking the record of 30.23 set by Canada’s Amanda Reason less than a month ago. The next two also went under the old mark, with Soni (30.11) taking silver and Australia’s Sarah Katsoulis (30.16) the bronze.

Neither the 50 back nor the 50 breast is on the Olympic program.