The USA's Ryan Lochte has claimed that tomorrow's 200m individual medley final at the World Championships will be "tough" to win.

The 31-year-old eased through his semi-final today in a time of 1:56.81.

"I wanted to try and save as much energy as possible," Lochte told Eurosport. "It was a solid swim. I felt a little shaky in the beginning, but I shut it down and will get ready for tomorrow. It's going to be a tough one, I've just got to do what I do best."

Lochte has won this event three times at World Championship level.