DUBAI: Ryan Lochte doubled his gold medal haul to six and took his overall medal tally to a record 21 on the final session at the Short-Course World Swimming Championships here Sunday. The American set a new championship best time of 1:46.68 in the 200m backstroke, followed by an all-out effort in the 100m individual medley in a time of 50.86, meaning that Lochte achieved a gold medal in every individual event he contested. He was also part of the victorious 4x100 medley relay team that signed off the championships with a final gold, bringing the US medal tally to 25 overall, with 12 golds. Lochte broke the all-time record for medals won at a short-course world championship, with a total of 21, four more than Therese Alshammar's former record of 17. Rebecca Soni took home another three golds for the US after claiming the breaststroke treble and three championship records to boot. Australian supporters were finally treated to a winning performance from one of their athletes when Felicity Galvez turned the tables on Sweden's Therese Alshammar in the 100m butterfly. Alshammar had claimed the 50m version of the event by .01sec, but in the longer distance Galvez, a former world record holder in the 100m butterfly, finished too strongly for her. South Africa's world record-holder, Cameron van der Burgh missed out, claiming silver in 26.03. Fabio Scozzoli took bronze in 26.09. South Africa fared better in the men's 200m butterfly with Chad Guy Bertrand Le Clos powering from fourth to first to finish in 1:51.56, ahead of another Brazilian, Kalo Almeida's 1:51.61 in silver and Hungary's Laszlo Cseh who took gold in 1:51.67. There were riotous celebrations when Tunisia's Oussama Mellouli claimed 1500m gold in 14:24.19. He also takes home a 200m freestyle bronze, 400m individual medley silver and 400m freestyle bronze. – Agence France
