Lochte enjoyed a dominant win in the 200-meter freestyle, but in the 400 free relay the US fell behind after Nathan Adrian’s opening leg and Lochte had too much time to make up when he dived in for the anchor leg.
Meanwhile, China set the first swimming world record of 2010, winning the women’s 800 freestyle relay.
While world records fell by the dozens in 2008 and 2009, no marks had been set this year after rubberized bodysuits were outlawed — and there still has been no individual mark set in either the long- or short-course pool.
The quartet of Chen Qian, Tang Yi, Liu Jjing and Zhu Qianwei timed 7 minutes, 35.94 seconds, improving on the previous mark by the Netherlands two years ago by nearly three seconds.
Still, the biggest surprise was in the men’s relay.
The French team of Alain Bernard, Frederick Bousquet, Fabien Gilot and Yannick Agnel won in 3:04.78, with Russia a slim 0.04 behind and Cesar Cielo’s Brazil third, 0.96 back.
Normally the dominant force in relays, the US team of Adrian, Garrett Weber-Gale, Richard Berens and Lochte placed fourth, a distant 1.32 behind.
At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Michael Phelps led off and Jason Lezak swam a memorable anchor leg against Bernard to secure a memorable win for the US.
Phelps and Lezak were not here, and it was stunning to see Adrian, the top US sprinter, only seventh after the opening leg.
In other races, Olympic champion Liu Zige of China led for most of the way but slowed in the final lap and finished only fifth in the women’s 200 butterfly, which was won by Mireia Belmonte Garcia of Spain in 2:03.59.
Belmonte Garcia was back in the water later to win the grueling 400 individual medley in a championship record 4:24.21.
Lochte didn’t celebrate after winning the 200 free in a meet record 1:41.08, nearly a full body-length ahead of his closest competitor. Danila Izotov of Russia finished second, 0.62 seconds behind, and Olympic 1,500-meter champion Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia was third, 0.94 back.
Paul Biedermann, the German who holds the world record of 1:39.37, placed fifth, 1.11 behind Lochte.
Lochte was attempting to match Phelps’ eight victories from the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
This year, he eclipsed Phelps as the world’s top all-around swimmer. He beat Phelps in the 200 IM and 200 back at the US championships this summer, then won six golds to Phelps’ five at the Pan Pacific Championships in August.
On Thursday, Lochte will swim the 400 individual medley and the 800 free relay.
Lochte, like every US athlete here, wore the initials of Fran Crippen on his warmup suit, in memory of the American open water swimmer who died during a race in the United Arab Emirates two months ago.
