Dubai - It's one down and seven to go for Ryan Lochte.
The American opened his bid for eight gold medals at the short-course swimming world championships on Wednesday with a dominant win in the 200-meter freestyle.
Lochte didn't celebrate after touching in a championship-record 1 minute, 41.08 seconds, nearly a full body-length ahead of his closest competitor.
Danila Izotov of Russia finished second, 0.62 seconds behind, and 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.
Attempting to match Michael Phelps' eight victories from the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Lochte's second event final - the 400 free relay - is scheduled for later on Wednesday.
Phelps is skipping this meet.