“I just love racing against him because it’s a challenge”.
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Phelps has beaten Lochte in the 200m IM each time they have gone up against each other in the U.S. trials and the Olympic games.
Phelps won in 51 seconds flat, the second-best time of the year in the 100 butterfly, and qualified for a third individual event in Rio.
Though also entered in the 100 butterfly, Lochte is basically putting all his hopes on the 200 IM.
Next stop: Rio. Michael Phelps defeated rival Ryan Lochte at their final meet of the Olympic swimming trials in Omaha, Nebraska, on Friday, July 1.
But they were battling stroke for stroke on the final freestyle leg before Phelps seized the win in 1min 55.91sec – making him the second-fastest in the world this year.
It was like so many races they’ve had before.
Phelps, the most decorated athlete in Olympic history with 18 golds and 22 medals overall, has said he will retire from swimming for good after these Games.
If anyone besides Ledecky wins in Omaha (or really, in Rio), it would be a massive upset.
“There’s no way I’m losing my last race on American soil”, Phelps told his coach of 20 years. “During the big meets, we have great races. We take each other to that next step”. “I would have liked to have been faster, but I could kind of tell during the race that it wasn’t going to be much faster than yesterday”.
Three other finals were decided Saturday.
Her roommate on the trip is SwimMac Carolina teammate Katie Meili, who earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic team earlier this week by finishing second in the 100-meter breast stroke.
“There is a lot going on, but I’m happy that we did everything that we wanted to do”.
Both men are already on the team, with Ervin still seeking an individual event to go with his relay duty and Adrian set to defend his 100 free title from the London Games.
Nathan Adrian, the 100 metres free victor, will be doubling up, blitzing to victory in the 50 free in 21.51 seconds ahead of Anthony Ervin and 2012 Olympic silver medallist Cullen Jones. “I got the job done, punched my ticket”.
Going into trials, Gaines said he’d keep an eye on the details of Phelps’ swims, particularly his handling of turns. The 35-year-old couldn’t hold on, fading to fourth in 48.54 while also touching behind Ryan Held (48.26).
Five of the eight finalists are already on the US team that will compete in Rio, Brazil in August.
After clocking the third fastest time ever in the event during Thursday’s preliminaries, the Olympic and world champion looked primed to eclipse her own world mark of 8:06.81.
While the trials that concluded on Sunday produced a string of tight races and the compelling drama that comes of knowing only the top two in each event will book Olympic berths, the times were not especially fast. She’ll be busy enough as it is.
Franklin competed in seven events and won four golds medals at the London Games four years ago. Ledecky won the race, and Smith was second.
Ledecky was just. 07 of a second from sixth place, which begs the obvious question: Would U.S. coaches give her a spot in the relay preliminaries in Rio?
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Phelps got there first, just ahead of the guy who’s pushed him hard for more than a decade.
