Also in action Tuesday will be Ryan Lochte, swimming his first Rio race as part of the USA men’s 4x200m freestyle relay team, and Maya DiRado, who claimed silver in the women’s 400m individual medley on Saturday and has a chance to add a second medal in Tuesday’s 200m IM final.
Advertisement
This is the one Michael Phelps really wanted, and it showed.
Phelps lost by 0.05 seconds to le Clos in the event at the 2012 London Games and swam next to the South African, who followed Monday’s pre-swim shadow boxing with a quick staredown behind the blocks.
Tonight, Phelps has the 200m butterfly final – where he’ll try to reclaim his gold from rival Chad le Clos of South Africa – at about 9:25 p.m. ET. By the time he is done, Phelps could put a mind-boggling 28 lifetime medals and 24 golds in the trophy case.
In the 4×200 relay Phelps’ American teammates Conor Dwyer, Francis Haas, and Ryan Lochte handed him a healthy lead that he would not relinquish.
Advertisement
It was then over to the 4x200m freestyle relay and a visibly exhausted Phelps somehow managed to close out a fine win for the United States of America quartet with Great Britain claiming the silver. Ledecky looks like a lock to match Meyer, having already won the 200 and 400 titles and an overwhelming favorite in the 800, where she’s the world-record holder and far faster than anyone else in the world. He is still scheduled to swim the 200 individual medley and the 100 fly later this week, as well as participating in the medley relay. Siobhan-Marie O’Connor of Britain challenged Hosszu all the way but had to settle for silver.
