Japanese medal hopeful Ryosuke Irie reached the men's 200-meter backstroke final as the second-fastest qualifier at the world championships Thursday.

Irie touched in 1 minute, 54.14 seconds, 0.08 behind world record holder Aaron Peirsol of the United States, for a spot in Friday's final.

Takashi Nakano did not qualify with a time of 1:57.02 in 12th place.

In other action, Ryan Lochte of the United States won the men's 200- meter individual medley final with a world record of 1:54.10, shaving 0.13 off the previous mark held by Michael Phelps. Japan's Ken Takakuwa finished seventh in 1:58.02.

In the men's 200-meter breaststroke semifinals, Australian Christian Sprenger broke two-time double Olympic breaststroke champion Kosuke Kitajima's world record by 0.20, clocking 2:07.31. Yuta Suenaga, 14th in 2:09.70, failed to qualify for the final.

Both of Kitajima's 100 and 200 world marks have been broken here.

Nanaka Tamura (2:22.83) and Rie Kaneto (2:22.92) qualified seventh- and eighth-fastest for the women's 200 breaststroke final.