Ever since Chad Le Clos toppled Michael Phelps as the Olympic 200m butterfly king four years ago, he has wanted to achieve the mantle of greatness too.
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Phelps posted the second-best time in the semifinals for the men’s 200m butterfly semifinals in Rio. The battle of wills continued out on the deck, as Le Clos did not take his eyes off Phelps for the entire run-up to the race. Hungary’s Tamas Kenderesi finished first in one minute and 53.96 seconds, while another Hungarian in Laszlo Cseh was third at one minute and 55.18 seconds.
Le Clos will compete in the heats this afternoon (6.39pm SA time) with the semifinals scheduled for late in the night (3.16am tomorrow SA time). Phelps, who had just advanced to his fifth Olympic final in the 200m butterfly, sounded unperturbed.
The U.S.’ Tom Shields finished 20th in the preliminary heats and did not advance to the semifinals.
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Phelps won his first medal of the Rio Olympics – and his 23rd since Athens 2004 – when he helped the USA to win the 4x100m freestyle. He went on to win the event at the 2004 and 2008 Games. Cseh came into Rio with the world’s top time of 1:52.91. His stellar second leg helped put the Americans ahead before Nathan Adrian closed it out in the final leg to hold off France and Australia.
