ISTANBUL: Ryan Lochte of the United States smashed his own world record to win the 200 metres individual medley at the world short-course championships on Friday and then shocked the crowd by giving his  medal to a fan.

Lochte finished in one minute 49.63 seconds to shatter the mark of 1:50.08 he set in December 2010 at the worlds in Dubai.

It was his fourth title at this year’s championships after he claimed golds in the 200 freestyle and 4x100 freestyle on Wednesday and the 4x200 on Thursday.

“One of the reasons why I’m in this sport is because of the fans,” the five-time Olympic champion told the BBC after handing his gold medal to a young boy who was waiting for an autograph.

Japan’s Daiya Seto took silver in 1:52.80 with Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh grabbing the bronze medal in 1:52.89.Lochte won six gold medals and one silver when Dubai hosted the short-course event in 2010. He also won five medals at this year’s London Olympics including two golds.

Daniel Gyurta of Hungary dominated the 200-metre breaststroke, setting a competition record.

Gyurta, who won gold in the event at the London Olympics, finished in two minutes and 1.35 seconds. Michael Jamieson of Britain, the Olympic silver medallist, again took silver, in a time of 2:03.00. Viatcheslav Sinkevichof Russia was third in 2:03.08.

Lu Ying and Jiao Liuyang led home a gold and silver finish for China in the women’s 50m butterfly.

Lu clocked 25.14sec to win China’s first gold of the championships, while Jiao followed her home at the Sinan Erdem Arena in 25.23.

Paul Biedermann defended his men’s 400m freestyle title, but he needed to be at his best after China’s Hao Yun had gone out strongly from lane eight.

Eventually, the German caught Hao in the final 50m and touched home in 3:39.15, while Hao took silver with 3:39.48. Bronze went to Denmark’s Mads Glaesner, who finished in 3:40.09.

In the women’s 400m freestyle, Melanie Costa Schmid of Spain staged a similar acceleration in the final leg to get the gold in 4:01.08.

Chloe Sutton of the United States won silver in 4:01.20 and Lauren Boyle of New Zealand, who had dominated the first 350 meters, came third in 4:01.24.

Vladimir Morozov held off the challenge of two Olympic champions to win gold in the 50m freestyle and secure Russia’s first gold of the championships.

The Russian swam in lane five between 2012 Olympic champion Florent Manaudou and 2000 champion Anthony Ervin, but he shrugged off their pressure to win in 20.55 seconds, while Manaudou won the silver in 20.88 and Ervin bronze in 20.99. —Agencies