For the first time in his Olympic career, Ryan Lochte failed to medal in the 200-meter individual medley after finishing in fifth place.
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Phelps was the swimmer almost two seconds ahead of the rest of the field while Lochte finished in fifth place.
Michael Phelps reacts after winning the men’s 200m individual medley final for his 22 Olympic gold medal at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Rio de Janeiro August 11, 2016.
Lochte has competed in the past four Olympic Games.
“Michael has done it so frequently it really is hard to put it into perspective because every one of those was hard”.
“The goal was 8:05 or better so I hit all my goals right on the nose this week”, said Ledecky, who improved the previous record of 8:06.68 she set in January. But after winning four golds so far in Rio-in the 4x100m free and 4x200m free relays, the 200m butterfly and the 200m individual medley-he’ll have a shot at one more-it would be his 23rd-on Saturday in the 4x100m medley relay.
At 31, and with a bevy of younger swimmers eager to claim a victory over a hero, Phelps’ prospects in Rio were unclear.
The 21-year-old touched home in 1:53.62 with Australia’s Mitch Larkin taking silver in 1:53.96, just ahead of Russia’s Evgeny Rylov with the bronze in 1:53.97.
Kaneto grabbed the lead on the third of four laps and powered to the finish comfortably in front.
He finished second in his semi-final to qualify fifth fastest for Friday’s final. She also finished second to American Lilly King in the 100 breaststroke after initially being banned from the Rio Games for her links to the Russian doping scandal. China’s Wang Shun took silver.
Phelps could now finish with six gold medals, equalling his Athens tally and two shy of his epic haul in Beijing.
“Of course I wanted gold like any other athlete, especially at the Olympics, and it was so close”, Efimova said.
“I’m going to need some time off, just a break mentally and physically and who knows – I might be back”.
Phelps then raised his arms to salute the crowd as fiancee Nicole cradled their baby son Boomer in the stands.
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Despite Lochte’s thoughts, there is still a good chance that Phelps is competing in his final Olympics. “I’m full of emotions now”, he said. “We’ll have one more time to hop in the pool and duke it out”.
