Ryan Lochte of the United States broke the world record to win the men's 200m backstroke gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Games on Friday.

Lochte clocked in the winning time of 1:53.94 to break his old world mark of 1:54.32 set up in March 2007.

His fellow American Aaron Peirsol won the silver in 1:54.33 and Russian Arkady Vyatchanin got the bronze in 1:54.93.

(Xinhua News Agency August 15, 2008)