Ryan Lochte earned his sixth gold medal at the Pan Pacific championships, just missing lowering his own world record in the 200m individual medley on Saturday.

The United States won six gold medals on the final night of the year's biggest international meet. The Americans led the overall standings with 52 medals, including 26 gold. Australia's women won six golds, while their male counterparts were shut out.

Lochte's time of 1 minute, 54.43 seconds erased Michael Phelps' meet record set four years ago. Phelps dropped out of the event to focus on the 400 medley relay later.

The Americans needed him, too.

Phelps dove in for the butterfly leg with the Americans trailing Japan. He closed in on Masayuki Kishida on his first 50 but didn't take the lead until the final strokes of his second lap. Nathan Adrian held onto the lead on the anchor leg.

"Maybe I should be a sprinter from now on," Phelps said. "I said to Nathan, 'I'll give you the lead going into that last leg.' I turned at the 50 and said, 'Whoa, I got some work to do.' We weren't going to let that race slip away from us."

The United States finished in 3:32.48, sweeping the relays. Japan, whose team included Kosuke Kitajima, was second. Australia finished third.

"Obviously the US is above and beyond our powers, but we're at a level where we can put up a good fight," said Kitajima, who trains in Los Angeles.

Lochte's time in the 200 IM was just off his world mark of 1:54.10 set at last year's World Championships in Rome, where he won wearing a neck-to-ankle polyurethane suit. Those suits were banned starting this year, replaced by textile suits.