American swimming star Ryan Lochte set a world record of one minute and 49.63 seconds to capture the gold medal in the 200-meter individual medley on Friday at the short-course world championships in Istanbul.

Lochte, who had already won the 200-meter freestyle and 4x100-meter freestyle world titles on Wednesday, broke his own record of 1:50.08 which he set in December 2010 in Dubai. The 28-year-old from Rochester, N.Y. won two gold medals in the London Games, as well as two silvers and one bronze.

“Any time you break the world record, it’s amazing,” Lochte said on Friday. “I swam my best time, of course. I wanted to do something that no one else did here. I didn’t know I was going that fast anyway.”

Lochte gave his gold medal to a boy in the crowd.

Japan's Daiya Seto took silver in 1:52.80 on Friday, with Hungary's Laszlo Cseh finishing third with at 1:52.89.

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