BEIJING – The records keep falling and the gold medals keep stacking up for Michael Phelps.

Phelps owned five gold medals and as many world records entering Thursday’s finals of the men’s 200-meter individual medley at the Water Cube.

Phelps, who receives the largest applause here regardless of nationality, didn’t disappoint the crowd as he won his sixth gold medal, finishing the race in 1 minute, 54.23 seconds. Phelps bested his own world record by .57 of a second.

He is now only one gold medal from tying Mark Spitz’s record of seven set at the 1972 Munich Games.

Phelps’ teammate Ryan Lochte was most likely his primary competition. But Lochte had won the 200 backstroke final in world record time less than an hour before the 200 IM began.

Still Lochte finished the race in third, just .01 of a second behind silver medalist Laszlo Cseh from Hungary.

“I just wanted to step on it in the first 50 a little bit and try to get out to an early lead,” Phelps said. “I knew that was a hard double for Ryan. I knew in the first half, if I got a big enough lead, I thought I could hang on, and that’s all I wanted to do.”

It was Cseh who might have provided the early inspiration for Phelps. Cseh stuck with Phelps, almost swimming stroke for stroke with the American through the butterfly and the backstroke.

The breaststroke came and Phelps seemed to kick it into another gear.

“I tried to do a harder start in the first 100 meters, but Michael’s breaststroke is awesome,” Cseh said. “Michael is unbeatable.”

That’s true in the finals.

Phelps won his heat of the men’s 100 butterfly in 50.97 but finished .05 of a second behind Serbia’s Milorad Cavic. Impressive there was the double that Phelps pulled.

Less than 2 minutes had passed between the time Phelps walked into the locker room after accepting his 200 IM gold medal and the time he walked back out to get ready for the start of the first semifinal of the 100 butterfly.

“This morning’s double was a tough double, a hard morning,” Phelps said. “But once I got into it, it was OK. I had an idea of what I wanted to do.”

Strong beat, strokePossibly the day’s most inspired race came in the women’s 200 breaststroke.

American swimmer Rebecca Soni overcame Leisel Jones of Australia to win the event in the world record time of 2:20.22, a full 1.83 seconds faster than Jones.

Soni, who made it to Beijing because of Jessica Hardy’s failed doping test, had finished second to Jones in the 100 breaststroke.

Overcoming Jones was nothing compared with overcoming the dangers of a cardiac ablation – a procedure done to restore the normal rhythm of the heart’s beat.

“It’s been a long road here,” Soni said. “I can’t believe what just happened. I’ve just won a gold medal.”

Jones took the lead early and, after a powerful kick from the 50-meter turn, she owned a half-body length lead over Soni.

Jones had the power off the wall on each of the three turns, but it was Soni with the more powerful stroke.

Jones began to fade and Soni made her move. Twenty-five meters later, there was no question who was in command of the race.

“It just flowed,” Soni said. “I tried to keep my stroke strong. It’s something I’ve been working on through the trials.

“I turned (at the 150-meter mark) and realized I was in first. I knew I had a little bit left in me, so I tried to stay relaxed and strong.”

No more Mr. Runner-upLochte had come in second to Phelps and Aaron Peirsol so many times that he earned the unflattering “Mr. Runner-up” moniker.

Time for a new name.

Lochte set a world record in the 200 backstroke, winning in 1:53.94 and finally beating Peirsol, who finished in 1:54.33 to take the silver.

“That’s been the theme of the meet,” Peirsol said. “You’ve got to break a world record to win. I gave it my all. I had nothing left. Ryan handed me a great race. I have no regrets.”

Other eventsElizabeth Beisel and Margaret Hoelzer qualified for the 200 backstroke finals. Beisel won the first heat in 2:07.90, .14 of a second slower than Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry, who won the second heat.

Hoelzer came in at 2:08.25.

Ben Wildman-Tobriner made it in the finals of the 50 freestyle, finishing the sprint in 21.76 seconds, a tie with France’s Amaury Leveaux. Garrett Weber-Gale missed the finals.

American Michael Phelps celebrated after winning the men’s 200-meter individual medley final Thursday night in Beijing. Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS